The Miner's Destiny
by cynicalDreamers
Summary: Meet Adeline Jones: A lonely girl who just turned 13. When her cousin gives her a necklace and introduces her to the game Minecraft for her birthday, her life turns upside-down as she gets warped into Minecraftia and discovers she and her new friends have to save the world. Rated T for lots of violence, annoying love triangles, obnoxious mysteries, and some suggestive thoughts.
1. The Pendant

Why hello there, everyone! This is my first story on Fanfiction! :D Before you start reading I have a few things to say.

1) This story is rated T for a reason. It contains a lot of swearing, nothing extremely vulgar, but still quite a bit. Almost every chapter has lots of violence and monsters being beheaded, and the like. But in a world where toddlers play Call of Duty on their Playstation Vitas I guess I don't really have to say anything about it.

2) At the moment this story contains a LOT of romance and fluff. When the fanfic is finished I'm going to be rewriting it a little (This chapter is not the original, if you must know.) and cut back on most of the romance in the beginning. So it'll be a bit easier to read.

...and I think that's it! Enjoy!

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><p>Chapter 1: The P<strong>END<strong>ant

"Adeline, get up! The house is on fire!"

"Noooo..."

"There's a tornado outside! We need to evacuate!"

"Leave me alone, Claire..."

"The yard is full of bloodthirsty llamas that yearn for human flesh!"

"Let me sleeeeep..."

"The apocalypse is rapidly approaching! We're required by law to head underground!"

I groaned and opened my eyes slightly, making a pained noise when I was blinded by the sunlight leaking through my curtains. "...Claire? Why are you in my room? I told you not to watch me sleep anymore."

"To wake you up," my older cousin replied, examining her black fingernails that looked more like talons. "It's your birthday, remember?"

I blinked for a moment and looked around my room as I tried to regain my senses. Various posters and framed drawings looked back at me, which has always creeped me out, so I decided to look back at Claire. She layered brightly colored highlights like normal people layered clothing when going out in cold weather, but somehow pulled off the usually rebellious look to seem cute. Under a black Hollister hoodie was a lace cami, and her favorite dark skinny jeans showed off what little curves she had, as she was annoyingly skinny.

Laser blue eyes looked back into my dull turquoise ones. "...did you zone out, or...?"

"I just woke up, give me a break," I moaned, rubbing at my eyes and pushing back my auburn hair. Claire always made me feel self-conscious. I processed what she had said earlier. "Oh yeah, it's my birthday..."

"How old are you again? I always forget. Three?"

"I'm thirteen now, smart one," I scowled. "Not surprising that you forgot, though."

"Yeah. Probably why I get straight C's on my report card." Claire examined one of my shelves containing bottles of nail polish that I rarely used. "Could be worse," she added, picking up a bottle of hot pink varnish given to me from my mom. "Can I have this?"

"Sure," I yawned, getting out of bed and pulling a purple sweatshirt over my pajamas. "Take it. I just peel that stuff off in three hours anyway."

"Sweet!" Claire pocketed the bottle and inspected my desk like the snoop she is. "Let's see... all your homework is done, you little prep... an anatomically incorrect drawing of Pikachu... your computer has a pure history and you still don't have a Facebook yet. Wow, you have too much free time. Do you, like, have any friends?"

"Eh," I shrugged. "I don't care if I'm popular or not. I have a few, I guess." I changed the subject. "Something smells good."

"Probably breakfast," Claire, who ate like a horse, charged downstairs as if she had just reminded herself there was food on the table. She usually isn't this weird. Maybe she went to Starbucks before coming here, which she loves but should never, ever do.

I made my way downstairs a bit slower than Claire did, making sure I didn't trip on the wooden stairs and get my head stitched back together as I had in the past. Rubbing the faint scar on my jaw that was a memento of the incident, I opened the downstairs door that Claire had seemingly shut behind her and was greeted by the scent of Heaven itself.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" My mom greeted from behind the kitchen counter as she skillfully placed bacon onto a plate. After she retied her pink checkered apron I was immediately handed a large plate of waffles, which woke me up as soon as I saw it.

I sat down on a barstool next to Claire's brother and my other cousin Cameron, who was neatly cutting his waffles into small pieces. Unlike his sloppy but popular sister, he was neat but considered a nerd, similar to how I was. Although I felt I could relate to Claire a lot more, since, you know, she was a girl.

"What's up, Cameron?" I asked while shoveling waffles into my mouth.

"Well," my other cousin replied nonchalantly. "At the moment, the ceiling, second story of this house, the sky, and outer space."

I glared at him.

"Not much," he laughed as he realized he succeeded at his smart-aleck moment of the day. "I've been experimenting whether it's possible to be a nerd yet be super attractive at the same time."

"Impossible!" I scoffed jokingly. "Give up now, it's no use."

"Maybe for you," he slugged my arm. For a guy now two years older than me he was actually rather nice. "But once you get to high school, unfortunately, your physical appearance starts to matter more than it should."

"I'll remember than when I continue to have no friends," I shrugged.

"Ppsh," Cam waved his hand around in the air like he was shooing away a bothersome fly. "Who needs friends?"

By this time Claire had finished her breakfast about five minutes ago and was impatiently waiting by the front door with her purse, which was black to match the rest of her wardrobe. "Are we going somewhere?" I asked, putting my plate in the sink.

"Yeah, your mom said we can go into town and go shopping," Claire said, and my mom nodded from behind me. "Hurry up and get dressed, bro."

"Shopping, yuck," I joked as I ran upstairs. My dresser had about half as many clothes as other girls my age, but I still wondered which shirt to choose. I closed my eyes and blindly picked a long-sleeved turquoise shirt and plain blue jeans, along with my black Converse shoes. Looking in the mirror that hung over my dresser, I quickly ran my fingers through my hair and examined my face for any blemishes. Aside from a barely noticeable zit right on my forehead, my skin looked fine and I rushed out of my room before Claire yelled at me.

"Bye Mom!" I waved and Claire shooed me out of the front door as if the house were on fire like she had said about an hour ago.

"See you later, honey!" My mother waved. "Look both ways before you cross the street, don't talk to strangers, and don't follow any tall men in dark clothi-"

"Yeah, yeah, who'd kidnap us?" Claire sniffed as we walked down our street. Downtown wasn't too far away, since where I lived was small and in a tucked away place nobody except the residents had ever heard of. Claire and Cameron were from the city, where trends changed faster than you adapted to the first one and everything you did was held against you. Claire tried to convince me once to run away to where she lived when I was five and she was six, but we only made it to the grocery store to buy supplies before Mom found us. Now that I'm older and have more common sense, I don't even know why I thought it was a good idea to go there in the first place.

Even though our town was microscopic, we did have a lot of good stuff in it. For example, Another One Bites the Crust has the best pizza I've ever tasted. And we have a book store. That's also a coffee shop.

Pretty much it for the awesome things, actually. Who am I kidding, my town is boring as hell.

"Let's see..." Claire said as she walked down the brick path, scanning through the strip mall. "I need to get you a birthday present. I'm not getting you makeup, because you'll become obsessive like I am... I'm not going to get you clothes, because I know you don't like having too many clothes..."

"Wait, what?" I interrupted, looking at her. "What are you talking about? I've been talking to you for the past month about how I need new clothes."

"Oh. Right," Claire said, making an odd face. "I was just messing with you. Hmm... hey, when in doubt, jewelry."

"You're such a weirdo, Claire..." I rolled my eyes at her as I watched orange leaves fall onto the road. "Which jewelry store? Aviskye's?"

"If that was the one we went to that one time and got kicked out of, then yes," Claire said proudly, making me laugh. "Hopefully they won't recognize us."

"Nah, Avi's friends with my mom," I replied. "I'm on good terms with her. You, on the other hand..."

"Shut up," Claire snorted as we entered the door of Aviskye's, hearing a small bell chime behind us. Avi, the owner, happened to be behind the counter, and she gave me a polite wave before giving Claire a suspicious look.

"Alright, I'm going to find something for you," Claire said while giving Avi a charming smile. "Don't follow me. I want it to be a surprise."

"Fine..." I pretended to walk away sadly, and she gave me a playful shove which almost sent me careening into a glass case full of diamond engagement rings. That would have ended badly. Standing up and pretending nothing had happened, I walked to the other side of the store and browsed a display of expensive-looking earrings. Even though I didn't even have pierced ears, I needed to distract myself so I didn't spoil my birthday present.

I felt a like I was being stared at, so I turned around and was surprised to see a boy my age standing there. His shaggy dirty-blond hair, seafoam green eyes and band shirt weren't familiar to me, and I was confused even further when he made a noise similar to a blind man seeing a sunrise for the first time and pulled me into a rib-cracking hug.

"Uh... please don't touch me...?" I pushed the guy away from me and recoiled against the glass display case, trying to make myself look intimidating. The glass around me told me I looked about as threatening as a baby penguin rolled in sprinkles. "I have no idea who you are." Although the longer I looked at him, the more my brain itched, as if I had seen him at the store or something and very faintly recognized him.

"But..." he protested, his smoky voice provoking yet another small spark of familiarity in the back of my mind. "Adeline? How do you not...?"

I squinted, attempting to place his appearance in the many people I see walking down the street. "Do... you... go to my school? I feel like I know you, but I can't seem to remember."

He sighed and scratched the back of his neck almost sadly. "I was told this would happen. You don't remember me? Chris?"

When he said his name suddenly I felt memory begin to emerge, but before I could define anything significant other than a rowboat something was fastened around my neck by Claire. I examined it, and it happened to be a small dark teal ball about the size of my thumbnail hanging from a thin silver chain.

"Oh my gosh, thank you Claire! It's so pretty!" I exclaimed, giving my cousin a hug. She flinched for a second before hugging back, knowing I wasn't one to show affection.

"No problem. Do you know this guy?" Claire asked, looking at the guy named Chris, who was shuffling awkwardly.

"No. I guess not," Chris replied. "I'll be going now. See you later, maybe?"

And with that, he exited Aviskye's without buying anything, making me wonder what he was even doing here in the first place. "I think I recognize him from somewhere," I answered. "But I can't put my finger on it." After Claire distracted me, any memories of that boy had completely vanished from my mind.

"You probably saw him at the store or something," Claire concluded, giving Avi a friendly wave. "Thanks again, Avi!" she called before running headlong into a glass case with a cringe-worthy DONK!. Claire was a chronic klutz, and her impulsive joints have broken many an expensive object at our house.

I heard Avi sigh under her breath, and I rushed Claire out while giving the woman an apologetic grin that felt more like a guilty smirk. "Control your limbs, Claire," I mumbled as we walked out of the door. "Otherwise Avi's not gonna let us in there anymore."

"I consider it my goal to be kicked out of every store in this town," my cousin declared. "Without the use of stealing. Stealing is bad."

"Unless you see someone stealing something... and you steal it from them to return it," I argued. "I think that evens it out."

"But then it looks like you're the one stealing the thing, and then you get in trouble," Claire wondered out loud. "Darn. Life isn't fair."

"Lesson of the day," I agreed, and we window-shopped in silence for a few minutes before we exited downtown and started down the road for my house.

"Hey," Claire said after a while. "I just remembered, there's this videogame I need to show you. I think you'll really like it."

"Yeah? What's it called?"

"It's called... Minecraft." She sighed and clutched her purse as if talking about a boy she had a crush on. "It's the best game ever. And don't worry, this won't be like Amnesia."

Just saying the title of that game made me flinch. A couple of months ago Claire had showed me that game in the middle of the night, without telling me about it first. Let's just say I still don't sleep right.

"I hope not," I shuddered. "If this is scary I'll hurt you."

"No you won't," Claire laughed.

"Try me."

"I can beat you up easy!"

"You wanna go?"

"Now now, children, stop your squabbling," someone said in front of us, and I turned away from Claire to see Cameron approaching with a basket of food in one hand and his cherished Gameboy in the other. "I was thinking we could have a little picnic? Mom and Aunt Mary are talking about childbirth and home improvement magazines, I don't think you want to come in the house anytime soon."

Claire and I collectively dry heaved as we walked off the road and down a small hill, into a ravine full of autumn leaves. Cameron set up a blanket next to the creek and Claire immediately took out three of the sandwiches as if she hadn't eaten in days.

"So what are we doing once we get back to the house?" Cameron asked after downing a can of Vault. He was addicted to energy drinks, sometimes inhaling three in one go if he was planning on surviving an all-night Call of Duty or Halo session with his weird Internet friends.

"I told Adeline I would show her Minecraft," Claire said through a mouthful of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. "I mean, how have you not heard of this game?"

"I feel like I have," I answered. "From somewhere. Maybe a gameplay video on Youtube or something. Is it fun?"

"Fun?" Claire folded her arms, shaking her head in disappointment. "It's the most addicting game alive! In my opinion, of course."

"Not as addicting as Call of Duty," Cam debated. "Nobody has died from loss of circulation playing Minecraft, how about that?"

"True, true," Claire agreed. "At least nobody's died period playing Minecraft!"

Cam hung his head in mock-defeat. "You win," he said sadly. "But I still believe Call of Duty is more addicting, seeing as how it compels its mostly male audience to play for days straight and die of sleep deprivation."

As I was not as avid a gamer as Cam or Claire, usually playing an average of half an hour or so playing Pokémon after school, this shocked me. People could and have died playing videogames. My faith in humanity has dropped considerably.

"Anyway," Claire continued, skillfully pushing a stack of three Oreos into her mouth at once. "I think we're done eating..."

"More like you've eaten everything," I mumbled, finishing the single sandwich I had been able to salvage before Claire had grabbed everything. "You and your hyper-metabolism."

She shrugged. "Can't help it. I'm the human broomstick. Continuing, we should get back into the house so we can play Minecraft. C'mon."

Cam shoved the blanket back into his basket and we waded through the knee-high weeds toward our yard. My house was next to a creek, which used to be a swimming haven for children when I was about six, but after a rumor of ghosts it was now perfect to sit under a tree and relax.

I wanted to do that now, but apparently showing me Minecraft was an emergency. Claire almost dragged me through the front door, and after a moment of listening, it seemed Mom and Aunt Becca (Claire's and Cam's mother) had finished their discussion on how we were born and it was safe to get the laptop.

If laptops were smaller, Claire would have it strapped to a utility belt at all times, as it was her prized possession and she would probably risk her life for it. The thing has cost three years of saving birthday and report card money, as well as stealthily selling some of her mom's old things on eBay. So far, she hasn't noticed.

Claire took her computer out of her bag and gave it a welcoming kiss on its front before opening it and pressing the on button. The desktop was filled to the brim with icons, some for shady-looking games I had never heard of, and even a few notepad documents titled "hacking experiment lulz", which scared me. I feared for my computer's safety as my cousin clicked on a three-dimensional brown cube with a green top.

After an orange logo appeared on the screen it opened up to a panoramic view of what I assumed was the game scenery, with simple rectangles as the buttons. "Let's see... let's start you off with a single-player survival game," Claire said, clicking on a few buttons and typed "Adeline has no friends(:" into what I assumed was a title box.

"Hey!" I laughed, punching her in the shoulder. "Even though it's pretty true..."

"What about that guy who flipped out on you at Aviskye's?" Claire asked, and Cam turned around from the couch, which he had instantly retreated to when we stepped through the door. Laser guns of some sort rang from the television.

"Oh, that," I replied. "I feel like I recognize him but I don't know where from. He probably goes to my school and he tripped me on accident or something."

"Maybe he's your soul mate," Cam said seriously. "You feel like they're familiar but you can't really remember how?"

"Since when do you know about soul mates, Mr. I'm-forever-alone-and-okay-with-it?" I snapped. "Besides, I'm too young for that crap."

"I don't know, I see a lot of lovestruck twelve year olds at your school," Claire said. "Like that one time you smuggled me into the school dance and we went people watching?"

"Pretty sad people younger than me have more successful love lives," I snorted. "Anyway, let's get this over with."

Claire clicked on the "Create World" button, and I felt an odd sense of excitement build up in my chest as the loading bar filled up. "Okay," Claire began. "Right hand on the mouse, left hand on the WASD keys."

I did as told. "W is forward, S is backward, I think you get it. Left mouse button is to punch, right button is to place."

"Place what?" I asked, but she ignored me.

"Scroller thingy is to select an item in your hotbar," she continued, and I was confused until the game finished loading and my character was dropped into a 3D world made of terrain-colored blocks. I had expected some stunning scenery like Skyrim from the amount of praise she had given this game, although the graphics had a nostalgic sort of beauty.

I wiggled the mouse and figured out that made the character look around. Combining it with the W key made you move. "This is pretty interesting..." I observed, tilting my head. "So... what do you do?"

"Okay. I'm going to be very specific, seeing as how this will probably change your life forever," Claire said dramatically. "You only have a limited amount of daylight, which is precious when you first start. The first thing you want to do is collect wood. Walk over to a tree and punch it."

Seeing as how I was dropped in the middle of a forest along what looked like a beach, I strolled over to a tree and held the left mouse button over the trunk. A tan, rectangular thing that I assumed was my arm started swinging at it. Moments later, the tree was missing a torso and a small floating block of log zoomed at the screen, showing up in the bottom line of squares.

I rolled the scroller, and different squares were highlighted. When I returned to the log it showed up in my hand.

"Good," Claire praised. "Collect a few more, maybe around ten or so."

I did so, and by the time I had collected about twenty of the log blocks I noticed the sun, which was square, had risen in the sky by a few inches. "Excellent," Claire said. "Now, open up your inventory by pressing the E button."

After pressing the letter, a small window showed up, with my character in one corner, a small 2x2 box in the other, and a large array of squares at the bottom, which I assumed was for items that you didn't need in your hotbar. "Take those logs and place them in that crafting square, the 2x2 one," Claire instructed. Once I did a single box next to it generated some lighter wooden planks. "Sweet. Not take those planks and fill up the crafting square with them."

I obediently filled up all four boxes and it created a darker box with a 3x3 grid on it. "That's a workbench, or a crafting table," Claire said. "Those are used to craft more things than the small inventory one can. Take it and place it on the ground, I'll help you get some tools."

It took me a second to close out of my inventory, and I got confused trying to place it, accidentally destroying a few innocent blocks of dirt in the process. "Oh my god, you're killing me," Claire huffed. "Give me the laptop."

I did so, a little frustrated, and Claire swiftly created a wooden pickaxe, sword, and axe by crafting sticks and placing them in different formations. "The pickaxe helps you mine stone," Claire explained. "The axe helps you cut down trees and the sword helps you kill monsters. You can use them for the wrong things, but they break twice as fast.

"The sun's beginning to go down, so we should start building a shelter," Claire continued. "The easiest way to do that is to mine a hole in a wall and place a door there. Let's mine a tunnel into this mountain..." she selected her wooden pickaxe and dug a short hole into a stone wall, placing her workbench inside. "Then let's make a door, and craft a furnace with the stone we got." She placed a door at the front of the tunnel, then surrounded the workbench grid with stone, save for the center space. A grey oven-thing popped up, and she placed it next to the crafting table.

"Since we didn't get coal, which creates torches, we need to make charcoal," Claire said, putting some logs and wooden planks in the furnace. They began to burn, generating black lumps. She used those to craft sticks with orange tips.

The sunsets in Minecraft were actually rather lovely, and I watched it as Claire began to light up her tunnel, hollowing it out and making it suitable to live it. "Now's around the time monsters come out," Claire instructed. "There are zombies, which use melee attacks on you; skeletons, which shoot you with arrows; spiders, which can climb walls; and creepers, nasty little things that blow up in your face."

"You forgot Endermen," Cameron reminded her without looking away from the television.

"Oh, right," Claire said. "Those things are terrifying. They're tall, black things that attack you when you look directly at them. I think there's one over there... yup! That's an Enderman."

I squinted, and saw a thin, black creature pick up a red flower from the ground and carry it a few feet, making strange otherworldly noises. "That's pretty creepy," I mumbled. "For this kind of game."

"Here, I'm gonna open the door and show you what they do," Claire said, and she turned the volume up on her laptop then clicked on the door.

As soon as the tiny pointer in the middle of the screen rested upon the Enderman, it turned and froze, its jaws unhinging as it started to shake. Ominous noise came from the speakers, giving me a really uneasy feeling.

"Pretty scary, right?" Claire said deviously. "Now let me show you what happens when I look away from him..." She took the pointer off of the Enderman, which then vanished in a puff of purple pixels.

It appeared right in front of her moments later, making me yelp in shock. The monster stood there for a moment, dropped the rose at the character's feet, then teleported away.

We were both silent. "Does... does that normally happen?" I said. "You made it sound like it would attack you..."

"Uh, yeah," Claire gulped. "Yeah, no, usually they brutally murder you. I have _no_ idea what that was. Some kind of glitch?"

"What was?" Cam asked, pausing his violent first person shooter.

"I looked at an Enderman and it dropped a rose at my feet and walked away," Claire replied. "I'm freaking out right now."

"Yeah, weird," Cameron mumbled, unpausing his game. "... NO! Stop knifing me, bro! Not even cool!"

"Fine, don't listen to me then..." Claire pouted. "Well, it didn't hurt us or anything, so I'm gonna calm down and not worry about it."

"Good idea," I answered. "Can I try now? You kinda stole the computer from me."

"Oh, right, sure," Claire laughed, sliding the laptop back onto my lap. "Just wait until daytime, then go back outside and start getting more stuff."

"Will do," I said, pacing around the small cave Claire had hollowed out for me. Through the small windows in the door I could see what I assumed were skeletons and a rectangular green thing with four legs that I couldn't make out.

As I slouched over the laptop, the necklace Claire had given me swung down and constantly distracted me from the game, its polished surface reflecting my face. Although the stone wasn't as mystifying as a diamond or rubies, it had its own beauty, like the simpleness of a pearl.

Claire watched me walk in circles and jump at every noise the monsters outside made until the sun came back up. Sunrises were just as pretty as sunsets, and I studied it while the monsters caught on fire and burned to death.

"I think it's safe now," my cousin said. "Walk out and gather some more logs. I'm going to go... get your other present. Cam should come with."

"You can do it yourself," Cam argued, his thumbs dancing upon the joysticks.

"No I can't, I'm too weak to carry the sheer amount of presents we bought for our favorite cousin," Claire rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding, there are only, like, three. Help me anyway." She tugged on the sleeve of his Batman shirt and he mumbled what was probably a rude name under his breath before following her. Before Claire left, she added, "If you screw up, or you die, just call me and I'll help you with it."

My character wandered around for a bit before I settled next to the trees by the beach. As I punched them, I began to get a weird feeling, like I was unsafe. Tingles began to shoot down my spine, as if my entire body were falling asleep, and the last thing I saw before my face was dragged into the screen and everything disappeared into gold light was my necklace glowing like the sun.

Hey Claire, I think I need some of that help now.

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><p>I like this version infinitely better than the original chapter one. If you're new, just review this chapter, and if you aren't new and want to review this chapter but it won't let you, please put your review on the announcement I posted along with this. Thank you.<p>

New people, if you'd like to see drawings of the characters, a map of the TMD world and other cool stuff, please watch Theminersdestiny on DeviantART for fun stuff. :D Thank you!

And with that I leave for now.

PLASMAAAA! *smokebomb*

~FMF


	2. A Horrendous Discovery

Hello people! I finally got Ch. 2 done! It's pretty much just a filler, the action will come later, probably in Ch 4 or 5.

Replies to Reviews!

jetray790- Thanks for being my first reviewer! I'll try to keep up with it as much as I can! Pokémon Platinum will probably slow me down, though; I just got it for Christmas and it's really fun.

EDIT: Changed a bit of Ch. 2, deleted the fact that she can't remember life on Earth anymore. She still can now.

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><p>Chapter 2: A Horr<strong>END<strong>ous Discovery

"Ugh..."

A faint breeze blew on my face, and I heard the sound of waves somewhere in the distance. Where was I? I opened my eyes, and realized I was laying in sand, because my face was right in it. Knees wobbling, I stood up, brushed the grains out of my eyes, and looked around. There were hills in the distance, and there was a forest behind me. The trees were made out of... cubes?

Was I inside Minecraft?

"Mooooooooo!" I turned around and saw a rectangular cow turn its rectangular snout toward me.

"Moo?" It mooed, tilting its rectangular head.

...I guess I was.

I sat down, trying to get this through my head. If I was in Minecraft, then I would have to learn how to live in the world and survive in it. I would have to learn how to gather food and water, and get supplies to build a shelter. Not to mention hunting animals to eat, and cooking them long enough to not get poisoned.

Now that I thought about it, I didn't feel thirsty. I was definitely hungry, but I really didn't feel thirsty at all. Odd.

So... what was it that you needed to do first? Claire's tutorial of how to play Minecraft went through my head.

_"Now, the first thing you want to do is collect wood. Wood is the base of all things in Minecraft."_

But how would I do that? I didn't have an axe, or anything! I couldn't seem to remember how she got the wood! "Argh! Why me?" I yelled in frustration, punching a square tree out of anger.

The block I had punched popped off and shrunk, levitating a few inches above the ground. I looked at it, and it zoomed toward me.

"GAH!" I shrieked, jumping back and flailing my arms wildly so it wouldn't attack me. It flew over my head and... into my back? I turned around, and realized I was wearing a black backpack. Why didn't I see that before?

I opened one of the zippers and found the tiny wood cube sitting inside. Getting an idea, I set the backpack on the ground and began punching the tree as hard as I could. More blocks rained down, so I kept punching it until the entire trunk was in my backpack. It would've taken a lumberjack almost 15 minutes to do what I just did! I didn't know whether to feel proud or feel like a superhero.

I ran around in circles, punching every log in sight, and eventually, I had about 10 blocks in my bag. So how do you craft them into wooden planks? I opened up the front zipper of my bag, and there was an odd marking, like a 4x4 grid with a square to the right of it. Was that the little crafting window Claire showed me? I decided to test it by taking my block of wood and...

Huh? There was a little white "10" to the right of it. What did that mean; log to the 10th power? I thought for a moment, then I remembered. It meant I had 10 blocks of wood. But how would I split them? I took my hand and flicked it, making a log burst out of the cube and land on the grid. I did that twice more, so the number on the log became a 7. A picture popped up on the square next to the grid; it looked like wooden planks. Claire's tutorial coming back to me, I made sticks, and a bunch of tools: a sword, an axe, a pick, and a shovel. A hoe (ha ha.) wouldn't be much use to me now.

My stomach rumbled, and I swallowed, realizing how absolutely starving I was. Licking my lips, I looked around for something to eat.

"Oink!"

My head whipped around, and I spotted a lone pig trotting around next to the water. I was never a really sensitive person; I would fry ants with a magnifying glass if I was bored, or squish a spider if it bothered me. So I took my wooden sword, and hid behind a tree, waiting for the pig to stop looking at me.

Eventually, the pink animal grew bored with watching me hide and began to bounce away, carefree and clueless. Before it could go far, I leaped out and stabbed it in the back. Back in my carefree days on Earth, I had never actually held a sword, let alone used one, so I didn't know how to kill things swiftly and painlessly.

Because of that, the pig screeched in pain, writhing around on the grass like a dying animal, because, well, it was one. I stared at it painfully, feeling bad that I had to cause it this much agony. I tried to finish the job by slashing my sword across its throat like the assassins I saw in movies. It worked; the pig's eyes glazed over, blood oozing out of the thin cut around its neck. It disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a porkchop.

I didn't care that it wasn't cooked. I was so hungry I would've eaten the tree I cut down. I dug into it, ripping off every chunk of meat I could wrap my mouth around. Even though it was raw, it didn't taste half bad.

I finished eating the porkchop, then I looked at the sun, and realized I couldn't see it anymore. It was too late to make a shelter! I was going to get eaten if I didn't do something!

I grabbed my shovel and dug a hole three blocks down. I jumped into it, and grabbed my small block of dirt. I flicked it up, and a cube of dirt flew up and grew, filling in the hole. Just in time too; I could hear groans from the zombies, and spidery hisses.

I wrapped my arms around my legs, now too scared to go to sleep. I couldn't see worth beans, and the zombies only made it worse.

Suddenly, I felt footsteps on the block on top of me, then a frantic patter of feet. I immediately knew it was a creeper. I've never actually heard their hisses before, but I guess my brain had gotten tuned to this world.

Anyway, it sounded like the creeper was trying to dig through the block atop of me. I could feel dirt beginning to fall into my eyes as it got closer to me, closer to killing me...

WHOOOOOOOOSH!

Suddenly, I heard what sounded like a burst of energy and a loud crack. With a hiss, I heard the creeper die. Had something, or someone, killed it to save me? I broke the block above me and peeked out of the hole. The moonlight lit up the forest, and for a split second, I saw a flash of purple.

Then, it was gone.

I longed to chase after whatever it was, but I heard more zombies coming curiously to my hole, so I ducked back down, closed up my little hidey-hole, and fell into a nervous, jumpy sleep.

~(|)~

"Is she going to be okay, Auntie?"

Claire and Cameron stood above the limp body of their cousin, who was sitting in a hospital bed, unmoving.

Their aunt said nothing, her face still lined with tears. Her daughter, according to the bewildered doctors, was in a coma; how it had happened was unknown. When Claire explained that she collapsed while she was playing Minecraft, the doctors only said that was irrelevant and had nothing to do with her symptoms.

How very wrong they were.

Claire sat down and opened her laptop, not saying anything. She started up Minecraft and clicked on Adeline's world with shaking fingers. Would she go into a coma too? Or worse? The game began to load and...

...Nothing happened. In fact, a popup appeared, saying that the world was corrupted and could not be opened. It asked if she wanted to close the game or restart it. Losing all hope to save her cousin and be the hero, Claire gave a shaky sigh, closed Minecraft, and logged into her Facebook...

* * *

><p>Like my little markingbreak thingy? It's an Eye of Ender! :D

So...There! Ch 2 is done! I don't think it's as long as Ch 1, but again, it's just a filler. It's pretty obvious what the flash of purple is, but you won't see it again for a while. I might put it briefly in Ch 3, but other than that, it won't appear for a long time.

Give me some suggestions, faithful reviewers! (Or, currently, reviewer). What kind of stuff should I put in TMD? She WILL have pets, I already know that, and she's going to meet another person or two. I have a lot of plans already. I might make a sidestory or two about her doing a bunch of mods. Like the Aether and such. Because the Aether is awesome.

See you guys in Ch. 3!

~FMF


	3. Friendship

Hello! 3rd chapter is up! Yes!

So, I'm going to my Grandma's for the New Year this weekend, then two days after that school starts up again. So I might not be able to post as much as I usually do. But I still will! :3 Don't worry.

EDIT: I finally fixed Adeline's book. It wouldn't post.

Replies to Reviews!

jetray790: You are by far my most faithful fan. Keep reading! :)

xoxLEXIxox: Cool idea! :D I might put that in later.

Sparkgirl64: Love the Yogscast. They're so funny. Cool idea too! :3

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Fri<strong>END<strong>ship

I knew it was morning when sun began to shine through the dirt block above me and it began to fall on my face and shirt. When I woke up, I heard a strange inhuman noise that sounded like...screaming?

Grabbing my sword, I dug myself out of the hole and looked around fearfully.

"Urrrghhhh..."

Upon hearing that sound, I jumped, whipped around, and saw a zombie crawl out from a shadow under the trees, reaching for me. The skin on its face was peeling off, and there were missing patches of skin all over its ragged body, exposing rotting bone and muscle tissue. One of the eyes was missing, showing a gaping black hole leading to the skull.

When it went into the sunlight, it burst into flames and collapsed, moaning in agony. Its hand touched my shoe as it died, and I gagged at the stench of burning, rotting flesh. I guess all the monsters burn up in the sunlight. But... wasn't there one or two that didn't?

Hearing a scuffling behind me, I turned again and saw a humongous black hairy spider clinging to a tree trunk, peering at me with bright strange eyes. The two largest ones were different colors: one blue, and one green.

I shrieked, mostly because it startled me, not because I was scared of spiders. Because I wasn't. I swear. I wasn't scared of spiders. At all.

Okay, maybe a bit.

However, It didn't seem intent on causing me any bodily harm, so I started chopping down wood to make a shelter, which I forgot to do yesterday. The spider sat there, watching me and making sure I didn't do anything shady.

After collecting some wood and turning it into planks with the grid on my backpack, I discovered that wooden planks would only stack up to 64, then a new cube would start in my backpack. After I found that out, I stopped and began to make the frame of my house by flicking my hand across the top of the cube, which would make it grow and place itself in the direction I flicked it in. I didn't want to make my shelter too big, because it would probably take too long. I made it about 8 blocks long, 8 blocks wide, and 5 blocks tall. Then I sealed up the roof with plain logs.  
>Once I finished the structure, I made a door so I could see outside safely. But I didn't know how to make torches or windows. Claire never told me...<p>

Claire... would I ever see her again? Or Cameron? Or Mom?

Tears stung my eyes, and through the blur I thought I saw what looked like a chest under one of the trees still standing. The only trees not cut down were the ones next to the spider, because I was still spooked and didn't want it to attack me. Not because I was scared. Because I wasn't.

I walked toward it, eyeing the spider nervously, and pushed the clasps on it open with my thumbs. It creaked open, and inside it was a book; no gold or jewels or anything, which was rather disappointing. The book looked rather old, and it was made of brown leather, probably from a cow, or multiple cows. The pages looked like they were made from scratch, like the person who wrote it made the paper as well.

There was no title on the front, so I opened it, and saw... a crafting guide? Flipping through the book, I found recipes for torches, furnaces, armor, everything I needed! I turned to the back cover, and found a strange note.

_~If this book is lost, return it to Will Curtisimo._

...wierd.

I looked at the book. It said to make torches you need to find coal. If you can't, you can burn logs in a furnace to make charcoal. The recipe for a furnace was to fill in all the blocks on a crafting table with stone except the middle one. Looks like the crafting grid in my backpack wouldn't be much use to me now.

I took some wood and made a crafting table like the book described. It looked like a crate made of logs with a 3x3 grid on the top, with a square next to it. Luckily, there was a mountain behind my house, so I headed there with my pick to find some coal.

Once I got there, I looked around, and found some about 10 feet above me. I couldn't reach it, but maybe if I stacked blocks under me...

I grabbed a dirt block, and jumped, while flicking it under me at the same time. It worked! I almost lost my balance, but it could hold my weight.

I kept doing that until I was eye level with the coal. After mining it all, and making them into torches with the grid on my backpack, I jumped off of the 10 block all tower.

_CRACK!_

My ankle was on fire. I guess I wasn't invincible here after all. It felt broken, and I limped back to my house as the sky turned purple.

I lit up some torches, and made a furnace, which I lit up too. Warmth began to spread through the house. But it grew cold as I remembered the monsters. Could they go into my house?

I could see a creeper wandering around outside, and I heard moans and clacks from the skeletons. I was lucky that I didn't meet a creeper while I was working. Just the spider, which turned harmless in the daytime. I wonder if he's still there? Would he remember me? Or would he attack me nonetheless?

Suddenly, I heard a commotion outside. Bows were launched, and I heard moans and hisses and the shplunk sound of a sword going through a monster's head, killing it instantly. Was there something out there? Maybe... the flash of purple I saw last night?

Why was I so desperate to see it anyway? It was almost like I was drawn to it, like I had to be near it to feel safe.  
>I heard an explosion, probably from a creeper, then a yell, but it didn't sound monstrous.<p>

In fact, it sounded almost human.

I looked up, and heard a frantic knocking on my door. "Help! Help, please! Let me in!"

So it was a human! It sounded like a guy, too. I was the luckiest girl alive! Hopefully he was cute.

I limped to the door, opened it, and found him laying there on my doorstep pitifully. He seemed to be about my age, maybe a bit older, and he was bleeding from cuts all over his body. His black hair was tusseled and covered in dirt from his fight with the monsters. There was a burn on his left arm, probably from that creeper explosion.

"Ugh... thank you..." he moaned. "Thank you so-" He looked up and stopped for a second when he saw me. Suddenly I became super self-conscious. "Y-you're a girl?"

"Yeah," I said, one eyebrow raised. "What's your point?" I tried not to be too flirty, because that would probably make him leave.

"Nothing..." he mumbled, embarrassed. He stood up and frantically brushed his hair back like he wanted to impress me, but all it did was tint his black hair red with blood from his hands. It did give it a cute slick look though.

"So... are you planning on staying here?" I asked, my eyebrow still raised.

"Umm..." the guy said nervously. "Umm... if you don't mind. Can I?"

"Alright." I shrugged "I'm not going to give you anything, though. Don't mean to be rude, but stuff is scarce." It was true. I wasn't going to make him dependant on me for survival. Because that would be weird.

"That's fine," he said, reaching for a utility belt under his dark grey t-shirt. He pulled a miniature bed out of one of the loops and flicked it; it grew larger and placed itself next to the wall. Then, he took some glass and made windows, me watching all the while.

He turned and looked at me. "Sorry. Just wanted to make sure we could see."

I shrugged. "I don't care what you do, as long as it doesn't destroy anything."

"Then I'm going to sleep. I need my energy." He hopped into his bed, and curled up under the red wool blanket. "Good night."

It took him about 10 seconds to fall asleep. I wasn't tired, though. I took my leather book and flipped through it under the light of my torches. I was feeling very warm and cozy with the furnace burning logs, and as I drifted off, I flipped to a page describing something called... an Eye of Ender?

It had pictures of a strange-looking thing, like a green cat's eye with a flaming orange stick being pushed into the pupil. The writing began to look frantic, like the person who wrote this was hurrying.

"The Eye of Ender is created when a blaze rod is mixed with an Ender pearl. Blazes are found in the depths of the Nether, and Endermen are found in the overworld. Eyes of Ender are used to find strongholds, or mysterious and dangerous dungeons found underground. When you find twelve, put them in the portal before it finds you- Oh no, it's here! Help me! Someone, help me ple

It stopped there, the word "ple" drifting off the page. How curious.

The moans of zombies felt like a lullaby to me now. My ankle searing with pain, I drifted off to sleep, secretly watching the guy in his bed out of the corner of my eye.

Then I realized I forgot to ask him his name.

~(|)~

Claire and Cameron watched Adeline sleep, the heartbeat meter beeping steadily. Claire had not tried to enter Adeline's Minecraft game since yesterday, and she was scared to try to do it again. Cam shoved his hands in the pockets of his grey sweatshirt and walked out of the room, probably to get something out of the snack bar, the pig.

Adeline's face began to twitch, was she waking up? Hope filling Claire, she watched her, waiting for her blue eyes to open.

_CRACK!_

Claire jumped back, seeing Adeline's foot suddenly twist at an odd angle. Had her ankle just mysteriously broken?

As the doctors rushed into the room and shooed Claire out, she winced, that sound committing to her memory.

* * *

><p>There! Ch. 3 done! A bit more action in it now.<p>

See ya in Ch. 4! :)

~FMF


	4. No Longer Independent

Hello! :D Ch. 4 is finally here, after almost a week of waiting! At least I don't, like, post one chapter every three months like some people.

AARRGHH! Every time I save, all the RTRs are deleted and I have to type them back up like five times! GRR! You people have no idea how long it takes for me to post. You should be grateful. X3

A small note: Wow, I got two more reviews RIGHT before I uploaded! Just in time, you two! :D

Replies to Reviews! 

jetray790: Thanks again, most faithful fan. You are awesome.

xoxLEXIxox: You are in 2nd place for faithfulness and awesomeness. Keep reading! :)

rocket killer: Yes! You just made me less lazy! Congrats!

Herobrine: Nice idea, although I already know how this story will end. Don't worry, it will be a happy ending. Actually, more like bittersweet, from what I'm thinking now. But I'm not telling you what'll happen! You can't make me! Not even your scary username will convince me! :3

Now that those are over with, enjoy Ch. 4!

* * *

><p>Chapter Four: No Longer Indep<strong>END<strong>ent

Strange whitish rock surrounded me.

I was on top of a giant pillar made of dark purple crystalline blocks, and the sky was black and fizzled like static. Tiny stars dotted the sky, giving the place a hopeless feel, like you could never return back home, like you would be forever trapped in your own despair. There was nothing living around me, except for two long black figures in the distance.

Were those... Endermen?

I looked at them, but they didn't turn around. Bright purple particles billowed around them like mist.

Wait, purple? Was that purple flash I saw the other day an Enderman?

The two Endermen turned and began to talk to each other. When they spoke, I could hear them in my mind, their voice echoey and distant sounding.

"_Is this the young woman you speak of_?" One of them said. They seemed to have noticed my presence.

"_Yes,_" the other one replied. "_Adeline._"

They know my name? Stalkers.

"_How is she still alive? The attack from the diseased should have killed her. Now that the distortion disease is spreading to mobs all over the world, they are very dangerous and aggressive._"

"_One of our kind saved her. He is a traitor and a fool._"

So... Endermen have genders. Would that make a female Enderman an Ender_woman_?

"_Shall we kill him?_" The first Enderman said excitedly, like he couldn't wait to commit murder. Wait, they didn't want that Enderman to save me? They wanted me to die? Or did they just want to see how I could fight them on my own?

_...No._" The second replied. "_He can protect her while we wait. I am not saying she should have died. On the contrary, I am glad she is alive. We need her for the-_"

"_Hush!_" the first Enderman cried. "_She is here! She cannot know! But... may I see her?_"

"_Okay,_" the other one replied, after a moment of hesitation. "_You are of a higher level than most Endermen. You can control yourself. Unless..._"

But the Enderman didn't wait. He spun around, and looked me directly in the eye.

His purple eyes widened, and as his body began to shake uncontrollably, his jaw seemed to unhinge, becoming unnaturally wide.

"_N-No!_" The Enderman not shaking cried, grabbing the shaking one's arm to hold him back. "_Curse it to the Aether and back! You should have waited, you impatient scrub! I was going to check for the distortion disease! You are infected! You're unsta-_ AAARRGHHH!"

The Enderman going out of control ripped himself out of his friend's grip, and charged toward me at an extremely fast speed. I tried to run, but my feet were glued to the top of the pillar, forcing me to watch him speed forward to kill me. I could see every speck of violet mist trailing behind him, and as the inside of his mouth began to wrap around my head...

"OOOUUUUCH! NOTCH-DANGIT! GAH!"

I woke up to the sound of that boy I met last night's yells of pain. He had his elbows on the crafting table, was clutching his eye with both hands, and teaching me some pretty nasty-sounding Minecraftian swear words.

It seemed that I had fallen asleep on the floor, so I stood up, my ankle still burning from when I jumped off of the pillar I made yesterday, and looked at him. "What happened?" I said sleepily. The sun had already risen, and I could see objects littered on the ground from when the monsters burned up. Bones, arrows, and pieces of shredded oozing meat with a greenish tinge.

There were shards of glass all over the crafting table, along with some strange brown lumps. I wasn't going to ask what those were.

Still clutching his eye, the boy replied, "Nothing. Just cut myself."

After a very awkward silence, I rotated the foot that wasn't sprained and mumbled, "Er... I never did get your name."

The boy thought for a moment. "...Shadow. I'm Shadow."

Shadow... what a cute- ahem. I said nothing. "I'm Adeline. Adeline Jones," I said. "You don't have a last name?"

"No," he said simply. "I'm just Shadow. It doesn't really matter if you have a last name, does it?"

"I guess not," I sighed, trying to smooth down my frizzy brown hair. I wish I had some sort of hair tie or ribbon or something. And what would I cut it with? There weren't any recipes for scissors in my book. There were things called "shears" used to cut wool off of sheep, but they didn't seem capable of neatly trimming human hair.

His hand still over his eye, Shadow asked, "Why don't you go hunting? We need more food."

I was rather hungry, but my ankle burned. It was difficult to stand on it. "I don't know, I think I sprained my-"

"Excuses excuses," he replied, and without making eye contact, he took a pork chop out from his belt and tossed it at me. I caught it and took a large bite. It was room temperature, but it still tasted really good. Once I finished it, I instantly felt full and a warm feeling began to spread through my ankle, and then it felt as if I had plunged it in ice water. I twisted my foot. It didn't hurt any more!

"Thanks," I said, grinning. I grabbed my backpack and took out my beat up wooden sword. He still didn't look at me, but he hinted, "You might want to make a new sword. That hunk of log won't hurt a thing after a few more uses. Try making one out of cobblestone."

I nodded, and walked over to my crafting table; the one Shadow was working on was his. I took some stone and sticks out of my backpack, placed one stick on the bottom square of the grid, and two blocks of stone on top of it. A tiny grey sword appeared inside the box next to it. I pinched the handle between my thumb and index finger and picked it up.

Suddenly, it grew to the size of a normal sword in my hand, and it was a lot heavier than my last one, because it was made of stone, not wood. The handle looked like it was made out of a shiny wood, like the stick had been polished. The blade didn't shine like the nice iron sword in my crafting book, but it sure looked sharp.

I swung it over my shoulder and waved at him. He didn't look up, but I thought I saw what little I could see of his face redden. I wonder why he wouldn't make eye contact. Did he think I was squeamish and didn't want to see that cut that he had? I didn't see any blood...

I walked out of the house and picked up all the items littered around from the dead monsters. Then, I looked around for any edible animals. After about 10 seconds, I heard a loud cluck so I turned and spotted a lone white hen pecking around. It seemed that there were wild farm animals in Minecraft, instead of birds and bugs and stuff on Earth.

In fact, I didn't hear any birds chirping. Did birds not exist here except for chickens? And when I dug that hole to hide from the monsters, there weren't any worms or bugs in the soil. The only bug that I saw was a spider.

The chicken was uninterested in me, and it kept pecking around without a care in the world. I snuck around behind it, then lunged forward, stabbing it in the neck.

Even though that was my second time attacking something, it was a pretty good shot. Beginner's luck, I suppose. When I killed it, I realized I hadn't attacked a monster yet. Would they be harder to kill?

The chicken squawked once and fell over, disappearing in a puff of scentless white smoke and leaving behind a whole, miniature floating chicken ready for cooking.

I almost drooled at the sight of the chicken, but when I heard a moo on my other side, the taste of a well-cooked steak flew into my brain. I had to have it.

The chicken flying into my backpack, I walked up to the cow (which was smaller than Earth cows, its head was about up to my chin) when its back was facing me, and stabbed it in the small of the back, which was effective on pigs and chickens.

It didn't work. The cow stumbled, but it was still alive. "MOOOOOOOO!" It bellowed, turning around and snorting. It began to charge towards me, and I panicked. It didn't have any horns, it was a female cow, but I bet it could stomp my face in if it wanted to. Holding my breath, I held out my sword, and the cow impaled itself right through the chest.

"MOOOOOOOOoooo..." It moaned, and its cry of pain faded into nothing as blood dripped from its mouth and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. I was used to it now, I didn't even blink as the smoke blew over me and drifted away with the wind.

After picking up the red, tasty-looking beef left behind, I walked back to the house. It seemed that Shadow had made a few improvements; the house was a bit bigger, and there were windows placed strategically around it to make it look nice and tidy. Red and yellow flowers grew under the glass panes, and I wondered how it took such a short time to grow them. Maybe you just place them, and it's that simple.

Anyway, I walked in and was greeted by Shadow, who actually looked at me, unlike before I left. His eyes were a warm, chocolatey brown, almost exactly like the brown lumps he was working with before I went to hunt. I almost melted when he smiled at me, but enough with the cheesiness.

I pulled out my meat, and Shadow looked them over. "Pretty good," he exclaimed. "Let's get them cooking, shall we?"

He took the meat and placed it in a second furnace that was not there when I left. Upon placing some lumps of coal underneath the rack the meat sat on, scarlet flames began to light up and immediately I felt pleasant warmth coming from it. I thought it was funny that something that was used for heating your house back on Earth was used for cooking your food here. Sighing happily, I inhaled the smell of cooking meat, my stomach moaning with hunger. I tried to distract myself so I wouldn't be too miserable, so I watched Shadow work on something with his crafting table. He seemed to be making something out of shiny silver bricks. Watching him work distracted me well, and once the sun set, the moans of the monsters almost made me forget about the food altogether...

Until we both jumped at the sound of a frantic scratching at our door.

~(|)~

"...Adeline?"

_Beep...beep...beep..._

Claire stood over a comatose brown-haired girl, tears sliding out of her wide, unfocused eyes and down her pale, thin face. "Can you hear me?"

_Beep...beep...beep..._

"I'm going to save you," Claire said. This was the fifth time she had visited today. Suddenly, she burst into raspy sobs. "I-I'm going to save you, even i-if I'll g-go into a coma t-too!"

_Beep...beep...beep..._

_"_Can you hear me...? No, I guess you can't... Never mind then. I'll see you later..."

_Beep...beep...beep..._

* * *

><p>Sorry for the sad ending to this chapter. I thought there wasn't enough emotion, so I TRIED to put in some. I don't think I did very good, though... but I swear there will be more emotion. Lots and lots of-<p>

...no. Not that kind. Go away, you sickos.

Just kidding. All you sickos can stay. See ya in Ch. 5! :)

~FMF


	5. A New Furry Friend

Wow. This may have been the fastest update EVER! :D I'm so proud of myself. It was mainly because my dad let me stay up until about 11 while he and my brother watched the football game. The Lions lost... :(

ANYWAY... This is my longest chapter yet! :D Like, 3000+ words! And they will only get longer. Hopefully.

Also, the RtR will be a bit unfair today. Lexi is going to have a lot of reply, mostly because I loved her review.

Replies to Reviews!

xoxLEXIxox- Alright, you made my day with that prediction. I seriously lol'd when I read it. I'll have you know I am an expert at translating what people say behind their hands and I know what your prediction is. However, there is a flaw in that prediction. I clearly said after Adeline went hunting that Shadow's eyes were a chocolatey brown. You tried though XD. And if you were kidding, okay. I feel stupid. But you ARE right, the End will be very much involved in this fanfic as the chaps go on. Ok, I'm done now.

Have a Little Feith- Thank you! That's the first criticism I've had and frankly, I'm proud. I didn't want a perfect story. I wanted somebody to tell me how to improve it. Thanks :)

rocket killer- Cool! :D I'm glad I did.

Ambermidst- Thank you, thank you. I try not to make the RL thing too confusing.

Now that there will be more reviews, I may not be answering all of them. (Jet, I answered yours in the PM. Of course I play Minecraft.) So, don't be offended if yours doesn't get answered. Ok? Ok. :D

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: A New Furry Fri<strong>END<strong>

"What was that?" I cried, jumping from my chair (which was really just a wooden block placed on the floor next to the wall).

"I don't know..." Shadow said nervously. "It might be a zombie... you open the door."

"No, you open the door!"

"I have an eye injury! I'm handicapped!"

"Fine..." I picked up my battered stone sword and walked up to the door. Gulping, I grabbed the doorknob. Was it some monster waiting to kill me? Could it be a spider, or worse, a creeper, waiting to explode the moment I open the door?

I took a deep breath, and swung open the door, my sword pointing at whatever was scratching...

"Woof! Woof woof!"

I blinked. It appeared to be what looked like a small wolf puppy covered in dirt and blood wagging its tail on my doorstep. It must have smelled the food cooking and fought through the monsters to investigate.

I tilted my head, and then my girlish animal-loving instinct kicked in. I knelt down, and cooed, "Aww... who's a good puppy? Did wittle fwuffy puppy want some food? Yes he did!"

I could almost hear Shadow roll his eyes behind me, and I walked in and took a porkchop out of the furnace. It was hot, and I immediately regretted ever grabbing it. Throwing the steaming meat up and down between both hands, I ripped off a chunk and offered it to the wolf, who was still standing on the brown eyes were wide, and his legs were shaking from the cold night air.

"Come on... I don't bite," I whispered, crouching down and holding the piece of cooked meat in my hand. "Come on..."

Nose twitching, the wolf stepped forward a little and sniffed the air. When it realized I had food in my hand, its tail started wagging and it bounded over, taking the pork and gobbling it down. All of the scratches and cuts on its furry body melted away as it chewed. Food must have healing powers with wolves too, not just humans. "Good... uh..." I didn't know whether the wolf was a boy or a girl.

"Oh, let me see..." Shadow said, grabbing the wolf around the middle and then looking at its underside. After a pause, he said, "It's a boy." and walked back to his crafting table.

There was a very awkward silence, then I patted the wolf on the head. "Good boy. I'm going to name you Rex."

The wolf wagged his furry grey tail, and walked over to the furnace. He spun around a few times, laid down, and put his head in his paws.

Yawning, I opened my crafting book. "It says here that wolves like bones and will bond with whoever gives them some." I explained. "I think I found some bones yesterday morning."

"Cool," Shadow replied. "You found him, so you can give him the bone."

I opened the zipper on my black backpack, and sure enough, there were two bones strapped to the pocket. I took one out and it grew in my hand to about 8 inches or so. I held it out to Rex. "Here, boy! Want a bone?"

Rex looked up, and his tail started wagging. He grabbed the bone from my hand, and set to work on it happily.

As I watched him, Shadow turned around and asked, "How about we go night hunting?"

"Night hunting?" I tilted my head.

"Yeah. You've never really attacked a monster yet, have you?" Shadow said. "We need some gunpowder, for explosives. We also might want to get some string for fishing poles."

"That sounds pretty cool." I exclaimed. "Should we get our food and take Rex along?"

"Alright," Shadow answered. "Wolves are said to be killing machines when trained right. This will be good training for him."

I grabbed my sword, which was leaning on the wall from when Rex was scratching at the door. "Let's go, then! C'mere, Rex!"

Rex bounded up from his sleeping spot and ran over to my side. That bone must've done the trick. I watched Shadow grab the food from the furnace, and as he handed me a few pieces of chicken, I felt his hand touch mine. But enough with the sappiness. I won't get very much into that.

We set out, but Rex walked off in another direction. I whistled at him, and after he trotted to a tree and peed on it, he bounded back over, panting happily. I heard the clinking of glass coming from Shadow. I looked at him, and he had what looked like curved bottles filled with red liquid in both hands. I asked what they were, and Shadow explained that they were potions, designed to hurt the undead.

Feeling more confident because I had a wizard at my side, I drew my stone sword. "Come at me, bro!" I taunted, waiting for the monsters to notice us.

I heard a growl from Rex and I turned around. He seemed to have entered Attack Mode; his eyes were glowing a chilling red that sent shivers down my spine, and his fur was raised. His front paw was lifted up, and his tail was sticking straight out, like a hound dog that spotted a rabbit. I looked where he was looking, and saw a herd of zombies crawling toward us, about 10 or 12.

As they came closer, I realized that they all looked different. Some of them had olive-green or dark forest green skin and not a grassy green like most of them, and what little hair that was still clinging onto their head was a different color on each of them. But their clothes were all the same. Torn, light blue shirts and dark blue pants with holes in the knees, showing decaying skin or, sometimes, muscle or bone.

One of them was brave enough to some staggering towards us, moaning, and I hacked at it with my sword. Surprisingly, the head almost came clean off. The muscle tissue was probably rotted, making it as fragile as tissue paper. I finished the job by stabbing the zombie in the chest, and it collapsed in a smelly heap, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Unlike peaceful animals, the smoke from the monster smelled like decay and old fish.

Shadow took a bottle and chucked it into the middle of the zombies. There was a large explosion of red swirly mist, and the zombies screamed in pain as the mist devoured their bodies and left a pile of bones. We, however, felt a cool, pleasant sensation and all of our injuries were washed away.

Their bones dropped to the ground, and Rex ran over and grabbed one, gnawing on it happily and wagging his tail. It was curious, the zombies weren't disappearing into smoke...

Then, suddenly, the bones reformed and floated up into the air, fitting themselves back into a human shape. They held out a hand, and a bow appeared in their outstretched hands.

They had turned into skeletons.

Shadow and I stepped back in alarm, but all Rex saw a bunch of walking bones, and he lunged into the group and started to rip the skeletons apart. Shadow was right; he was a killing machine!

"RAWR!" I yelled, joining in the fight. The monsters weren't scary to me; in fact, it almost seemed like a game, whoever obliterated the most skeletons wins! I hacked every which way with my sword, and the bony monsters were smashed to bits. Shadow helped by chucking red potions every few minutes; he had said earlier that they were hard to make and he couldn't just use them any time he wanted.

When about half of the monsters were gone, a skeleton shot me right in the shoulder. It hurt like the Nether (a word I learned in my book), and I screamed as blood spattered onto my shirt and onto the grass. Panting, I clutched my sword harder and drove the blade right through the skeleton's head. Its body collapsed, disappearing in a puff of bad smelling smoke and leaving behind a small pile of bones, which flew into my backpack.

After a long time of hard killing, the monsters were finally exterminated. Breathless, I grabbed a chicken leg and bit into it, which healed my arrow wound. I looked over at Shadow, who gave me a proud grin. Rex, with small patches of blood on his fur, licked my hand as if to say, "That was fun! Can we play some more?"

I laughed, patted Rex's muddy back, and turned around as I heard creepy hisses and the clicking of mandibles. At least 5 spiders emerged from the trees, their eyes glowing a brilliant red. Rex growled, his eyes glowing almost the same color. He didn't seem playful like when he was slaughtering skeletons, he looked almost murderous and... scary!

He let out a blood-freezing howl and charged into the group, ripping off hairy black legs and tearing out red eyes. His power was almost frightening to watch, but I pulled myself together and joined in, stabbing a spider's thorax and throwing it against a tree with my sword. Shadow ran over to the dying spider and stomped on its weak, sensitive underside, rupturing its internal organs and killing it instantly.

After making a few more spidery shish-kabobs, I patted Rex on the head, gave him a piece of beef to restore his wounds, and began to walk back home. Then, Shadow yelled, "Adeline! Behind you!"

I pivoted on the spot only to see a creeper hissing at me in alarmingly. 5 feet of compressed plant matter crawled towards me on four stubby legs, its face twisted in an agonized frown, like every step caused it great pain. Its eyes were simply black hollow holes, and its mouth was the same. It let out a bone-chilling hiss, and it began to swell with an oncoming explosion...

It was too fast for me to register. The creeper exploded, sending out a large shock-wave, destroying itself in the process and sending me flying into the air. I landed on my back about 15 blocks away, and it knocked the wind out of me. Shadow ran toward me, Rex trotting behind.

Rex worriedly licked my face and Shadow knelt over me. "You alright?"

As I looked into his chocolate-brown eyes, I wanted to say something corny, like, "I am now," but I couldn't do anything other than pant heavily. Shadow handed me a porkchop, and I chomped on it, healing all the burns that I had on my arms. Even though I ate that chicken leg minutes earlier, getting hurt had somehow made me absolutely starving. I stood up and we walked back home.

When we opened the door, we sighed as the warmth from the still-running furnace enveloped us. Rex began to pant, and he trotted over to the furnace and curled up next to it. I did the same, sitting on my block-chair, and Shadow sat on his bed.

"Would you like a bed?" Shadow offered. "I have an extra one on my belt."

Some rather suggestive things went through my head, but I shook them out and answered, "Sure! Thanks!"

He tossed a bed icon on the floor, and when it hit the ground, it grew and I saw it make itself, the pillow jumping up into the air and fluffing, and the red sheets turning up at one corner. I sat down on it and Shadow asked, "So... I'm curious. How did you get here?"

"Well..." I began. "You may not believe me, but I lived on Earth. Do you know where that is?"

"I hear about it in stories."

"Okay, well, it's real, and I lived there. My 13th birthday was a few days ago, and my cousins Claire and Cameron came over, and Claire gave me a necklace." Actually, I hadn't thought about my necklace for a while now. I looked down at it. The blue-green orb hung there on its silver chain. It was about the size of my thumbnail, and looking at it almost calmed me down, giving me good memories of home.

"Go on..." Shadow nodded his head.

"So, on Earth, Minecraft is a game that we play on our... computers."

"A game?" Shadow said, almost angrily. "They think this is all a game?"

"Well, it is to them, none of it is real in their world," I said quickly. Shadow looked like he wasn't fun to be around when pissed off. "So, Claire and Cameron introduced me to it, and then my mom called them into the kitchen. I started to play it by myself, and then... I got... sucked into the screen, and I woke up on a beach just north of here."

Shadow didn't say anything for a moment. "...wow," he finally mumbled. "So, you had only a mom? No dad?"

"Yeah," I replied sadly. "My dad ran off when I was really little." I couldn't remember my dad, but I remembered Mom like she was sitting here now. I could remember her short hair, curled at the ends... and the pink checkered apron she always wore... and how she always smelled like flowers...

I didn't realize there were tears at my eyes until Shadow said awkwardly, "...Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. ...Now that you've told me your story, how about I tell you mine?"

"A-Alright..."

"So... I don't remember my parents..." Shadow began. "But... I remember my grandpa. I mean, I don't remember what he looked like, but I remember the stories he told me."

"Yeah? What were some of them?"

"Well, he was very religious, and he would always tell me of how our god, Notch, rules over us in a magical realm called the Aether. He had a brother, Herobrine, who watched us from the Nether. He said he was evil, and bad people were brought to the Nether to be tormented by him, but... I don't really believe that."

"Hmm..." I said absent mindedly, tracing swirls and circles in my sheets.

"I remember... stealing something." Shadow continued. "I really don't know what it was, but I felt like I had to have it. And... my grandpa found out... and I remember waking up on a beach, like you, and... that's all I can remember."

"Wierd," I murmured. "Um, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"What were you doing when you cut your eye this morning?"

"Oh, um," Shadow wrung his hands. "I was trying to make... stained glass. For decoration."

"You were making brown stained glass?"

"Well, uh, I wanted to make... a tree. We could have, like, a huge picture window at the back of our house with a picture of a tree on it... I was going to make the trunk first.

"But... the glass I was working with... it, er, I was handling it too roughly, and it, uh, shattered. A fragment of it grazed my eyebrow, not my eye. I just had my hands over my eye too."

I could see the cut now that he told me where it was. A small red scratch was cut vertically over his eyebrow. It looked rather deep and painful.

Yawning, I kicked off my shoes and wrapped my sheets around myself. "Well, I'm tired from fighting a bunch. I think I'm ready to go to sleep," I said tiredly. I closed my eyes, but I could almost feel Shadow looking at me. I opened one eye, and I was right. "What?"

"Nothing," he mumbled. "I was just... nothing. Staring into space. You happened to be in the way of where I was staring."

I didn't believe him, but I closed my eye back up and said quietly, "Night..."

He didn't answer, he was probably too tired. I fell asleep listening to Rex's adorable little snores and huffs, and dreamed of fighting monsters and building grand structures along with Rex and Shadow.

~(|)~

A bearded man stood on a stone block, looking down at the small wooden house from above the clouds. At his side was a gruff, battered looking man who looked a bit like him, but his eyes were blank and completely white.

The bearded man on the block spoke first, "Wouldn't it be cool if all animals and monsters came from eggs?"

"That sounds preposterous," the other one said, his voice echoey, like he was a spirit. "We need to think more about what is going to be coming, Notch, and less about... mob eggs."

"Herobrine, you have no sense of humor," the first one chuckled. "But you do have a point." he looked back down at the house. "They built a very cozy looking house. I'd live in there."

"You're getting off track again...!"

"Oh, right. So, what did the ghasts tell you?" the man called Notch asked.

"Well," the one called Herobrine said. "They told me that something very bad would happen..."

"Oh, those ghasts," Notch chortled. "Always so negative. Have they ever foretold anything good?"

"I don't believe so..." Herobrine mumbled. "But I think they meant it this time... they were very serious. Then they realized that I was a human and started to shoot fireballs at me, so I could not get any further details."

"But you're not a human, you're a god!"

"I look like a human, that's good enough for them," Herobrine said impatiently. "They also said the chosen one would...die."

"Die?" Notch exclaimed. "Ah, well, that always happens, doesn't it? The chosen one always dies...

"Thank you anyway, Brother. How about we go down into the dungeons and have some tea with the Valkyries?"

"When you say tea, do you mean-"

"Of course I do. C'mon, let's go!"

"Wait! Brother- I don't-"

"Yes you do. Let's go."

And Notch dragged Herobrine by the arm cheerfully out of the room.

~(|)~

"Claire, you have to eat."

"I don't want to."

Cameron was poking at Claire's mouth obnoxiously with a fast food cheeseburger. Claire looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks; her hair was oily and hung down in clumps, her skin was pale and dry, and you could see every bone in her hands and face.

"You're really being a butt to take care of, you know." Cameron said. "You know you want the burger. Eat it!"

Claire grabbed it and took a bite reluctantly. "Fine."

"Good girl," Cam said proudly. "Now, I want you in bed now. No trying to save Adeline again. I've had to stop you five times in the last three hours."

"But Cam!" Claire argued. "I'm so close! I can almost feel her in my game! Just a few minutes?"

"No."

And with that, he dragged her into her bedroom, shut the door, and locked it.


	6. What's on our Agenda?

Hello, my faithful fans! Sorry it took so long to write Ch. 6, I had a very small writer's block and couldn't think of what to write. XD I'll try not to let that happen again. But this is pretty much a filler, leading up to the action. Also, this is where the T rating comes in. Lots of mentioning of blood and guts. Nothing TOO serious, like..._ citrus._ *shudder*

...ahem.

Replies to Reviews!

Herobrine- Woah now! I can see maybe best in the archive, but on the SITE? I'm flattered, good sir.

xoxLEXIxox- Oh, you and your funniness.

CalicoUmbreon- ARRRGGHHH! Not you too! Leave Shadow alone! Why do you all think that? D: Actually, it's pretty funny, but seriously. Shadow's human. But I AM interested, what made you think that? :3

kellemarine- Not Isaphrel, I'm not doing a Yogfic or wherever he came from. Also, fun fact about this story! Herobrine is good, but he has a bad rap for being the guardian of the Nether. He's just... not as friendly as Notch. ^^ But the bad guys are currently a secret now. I'm not telling nobody!

Have a Little Feith: Thanks! :D I love writing this story, knowing I have more reviews than almost the whole archive! I think _The Gathering Storm _currently has more than me, but I'm not even complete yet! I plan on having around 20 chapters or so, then a sequel! ^^

I'm going to stop talking now. Enjoy the newest chapter of TMD! :D

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><p>Chapter 6: What's on our Ag<strong>END<strong>a?

I woke up to the smell of frying porkchops and beef. "Hnnggg..." I groaned, getting up and stretching my arms tiredly. Shadow must have been awake for a while, if he was cooking. And he was; he was at his crafting table again, still working on that stained glass project. Oddly enough, he was still using the brown lumps for his color, and nothing else.  
>He noticed that I was awake and turned around. "Morning," he said cheerfully. A bit too cheerfully, in my opinion.<p>

"Why so happy?" I asked groggily.

"I was planning to take you and Rex mining today," he said, taking the pork out of the furnace. "We need a bit more iron. I'm running out of cocoa too, so we should try to find a dungeon."

When Rex's name was mentioned, the wolf perked up and noticed the food in Shadow's hand. He stood up, stretched, and casually trotted over to the windowsill where they were cooling and grabbed one.

"Hey!" Shadow yelped, whipping around when he heard the crunch of bones from the corner. "Bad wolf! Ah, well, we could just share the last one, I guess."

I laughed, took the last pork chop, and split it in two. "Why do you need more cocoa?"

"For the trunk of the tree," Shadow replied. "I... only have enough for the bottom. I don't have any for the branches."

I shrugged in response and handed the other piece of the pork chop to Shadow. While chewing the other half, I got out of bed to grab my backpack and sword. Once I grabbed them, I took out my wooden pick. It had a lot of dents and notches in it from when I minded that coal and broke my ankle the other day, and I looked at it wistfully.

"Here," I looked up, and saw Shadow with a shiny silver pick in his hand, offering it to me. "You're not going anywhere with that beat-up old thing."

"Hey, thanks!" I said excitedly, stowing it away in my pack. I whistled for Rex, and he came trotting over as we headed out of the door.

"So, you know where we're going to mine?" I asked Shadow curiously.

"I spotted a cave a few minutes away from here," Shadow explained. "It looked pretty deep, and I thought we could explore- Ah, here it is!"

Under a small grassy hill covered in flowers was a large hole leading into stony blackness. If you hadn't known where it was before, you would have passed right by it. I took out my sword and held it in my left hand while holding my new pick with my right. I felt pretty clumsy holding a bunch of iron and stone in both hands, but how else would I get stronger?

Shadow grabbed a torch from his belt and placed it on the wall, making a lot of the cave glow with a warm amber light. I could see a zombie or two shuffling around near the bottom, and the three of us advanced cautiously.

As we looked around for ores, the zombies must've sniffed us out, because they turned their heads and moaned their way towards us. I handed my pick to Shadow, took my sword with both hands, then Rex and I tore through them like butter. Darkened, coagulated blood mixed with rotted gut fluids spattered all over my shirt, and I gagged as I wiped off zombie intestines.

Taking back my pickaxe, we spotted a small vein of coal past the zombies, like they were guarding it. Shadow pounced at it like a kitten finding a ball of yarn and he set to work, violently hacking at the coal blocks. I watched him, and noticed that the lumps of coal would fly onto his belt and hook itself into one of the loops, which was a lot more convenient than having to take off a backpack to get whatever you needed. Oh well.

As he worked on the coal vein, I spotted a small block of something silvery sticking out of the floor of the cave. I decided that this was iron, and began to chip away at it with my pick. Iron picks were tons better than wooden ones, and it tore at the block like it was made out of paper. There weren't as many blocks in an iron vein as there was in a coal one; only about 3. After getting the iron blocks into my bag, I turned and patted Rex, who was standing behind me, on the head and walked over to Shadow. "You almost done?"

"Yep." He swung the pick over his shoulder and grinned, his arms and pick covered in sooty black dust from the coal. I followed him deeper into the cave, planting torches every few blocks.

"Question..." I broke the silence. "How did you get the name Shadow? It's so... dark. Like, a bit creepy."

Shadow shrugged. "My black hair? I'm not sure, honestly."

I gave him a halfhearted grin and then stopped. "Skeletons!"

He stopped too, and I took out my sword. "Got any potions on you?"

"Just a few." He replied, showing me two bottles filled with the same red liquid that killed the herd of zombies the other day. "I can chuck one at 'em, if you want."

"Go ahead," I replied, and he took a bottle and threw it at the group of skeletons. The bottle exploded in a splash of red swirls, and the monsters clacked in pain, their bones disintegrating into a white mist. A few bones were left over, laying on top of the piles of white powder. I grabbed them, and Shadow grabbed the powder, saying it was a fertilizer.

As we progressed further into the depths of the cave, I grew more and more jumpy as it got darker and darker. If Rex's toenails clicked against the stone in the right way, I would jump about 10 feet, thinking it was a skeleton, and Shadow would roar with laughter. A few more hours of mining and monster slaughtering later, we each had mined up about 60 lumps of coal and around 20 blocks of iron. Rex happily feasted himself silly on the zombies we killed, and by the time we reached the dead end, his belly was full and round and his entire body was coated in brownish blood and guts. What a sadistic little dog.

We stopped at a wall of stone, and we were unable to go any farther after that. There was a small waterfall trickling out of the wall and into a pool, and Rex jumped into it, cleaning off the gut fluids from his dinner. We placed some torches and sat down for a while, resting and eating some beef that I had packed. A very wet Rex plopped himself in my lap, and I had to shove him off three times before he realized that I didn't want him on me.

Shadow took out all of his potions and began to sort them in color order: The red Potion of Healing, the orange Potion of Fire Resistance, the bright green Potion of Poison, the light blue Potion of Swiftness, the dark blue Potion of Slowness, the maroon Potion of Harming and the pink Potion of Regeneration.

"Where did you learn to make this stuff?" I asked. Not that I wanted to learn how, magic wasn't really my thing. I preferred close-up combat and beating the crap out of everything with my sword and Rex.

"A book," he replied. "I keep it in my chest at all times."

"Your...chest?"

"Not like the body chest, like a treasure chest," Shadow laughed. "I don't have it with me right now, the chest is in the house. I only need to look at it like once or twice while I'm making the stuff, I've memorized nearly all the recipes."

"Cool," I exclaimed, getting up and grabbing my backpack. "We should probably head out now, I think we've gotten enough ores to last us a while yet."

"You're right," Shadow replied, walking out of the dead end. Rex and I followed, keeping a close eye out for zombies or skeletons. Suddenly, when we were about halfway out, we heard a loud rumble, and the floor seemed to shake, making me lose my balance and fall down.

"What was that?" I cried, getting up from the stone.

"I have no idea," Shadow murmured. "We'd better get up there fast, it sounded like something collapsed..."

We sprinted upward and climbed over blocks, following our torches and desperately trying to reach the entrance. Once we got there, however, we stopped.

The way out was blocked by hundreds of blocks of gravel, sealing the entrance up tight. I sighed in disappointment, and Shadow walked up and pressed his ear to one of the blocks.

"It's nighttime," he mumbled. "We might have to stay here for the night, it'd be pointless to shovel our way out."

I nodded in agreement, and we headed back down to the dead end. I walked a bit faster than Shadow did, and once we were there, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"What do you want, Shadow, I-"

"_Uuuuurrgghhhh_..."

A zombie was staring at me, its perpetually open mouth revealing three or four blackened, chipped teeth, and half of its face was peeled off, revealing its corroded skull.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!" I screamed, grabbing my sword and stabbing it in the chest furiously. The zombie growled in agony and clutched its chest; loose, rotted guts spilled out of the hole. It pounced at me, arms outstretched, and I let out a muffled yelp as it collapsed on top of me. "Yeeechh!" I gagged, hacking at whatever I could get my sword around. Eventually, the body became hollow and drained of bodily fluids and was easy to get off. I wiped all of the stuff off of my shirt and pants, then realized I was wearing the same clothes that I had on the day that I was warped into Minecraft.

There were large holes in the knees of my blue jeans, and my light blue long-sleeved shirt was stained with red and brown splotches of blood. My brown hair was most likely a wild, tangled mess, but what did it matter, really? There are other things to worry about in Minecraft besides your personal hygiene and impressing guys.

Speaking of impressing guys...

After a minute, Shadow and Rex came running over. "You alright?" Shadow said, his face full of worry.

"I'm fine," I replied, scratching Rex behind the ears as he licked my shirt.

Shadow walked over too. "You have an intestine in your hair, Adeline," he said quietly, taking it out.

I paused, and he did too, like we both wanted to say something more but couldn't, then I replied, "Um... thanks," turning red and looking away. Rex sat down next to me, thumping his tail and panting gleefully. I envied that wolf; he was always happy, no matter how hurt he was. I sighed and patted Rex's back, which was still damp from his bath earlier. Shadow stood up and began to form a wall blocking the tunnel so monsters couldn't get in.

Rex laid down next to my head, and I put my head on his back so I could have a nice furry pillow; he didn't seem to mind at all. The wolf sniffed my hair and put his head in his paws, huffing loudly.

After Shadow finished the wooden wall separating us from the monsters, he took two beds out of his belt and flicked them onto the floor. I stood up, kicked off my blood-soaked shoes, and hopped in. Rex jumped onto the foot of my bed, spun around three times, then laid down with an adorable grunt. Shadow climbed into his, and was asleep within 19 seconds. His small snores combined with the xylophone-like clunks of the skeletons, the moans of the zombies, and the clicking of spider mandibles became a lullaby, and I fell into a blank, dreamless sleep.

~(|)~

Once Claire heard loud snores coming from Cam's bedroom, she took the bobby pin out of her hair and picked the lock on her door.

Cam was too oblivious to anything outside his videogame realm to know that Claire had extreme ninja skills. She was an expert at picking anything that had a lock and key on it.

So, she tiptoed down the stairs and into the living room, where her beloved black laptop sat on the couch like a thing of royalty. She grabbed it and ran back upstaurs, closing the door and locking it, just as it was before.

Excitement fizzling in her chest, Claire opened up the Minecraft file and began typing in code that would confuse even the nerdiest computer nerd her age. She stopped occasionally to listen for Cam, who's ears had become finely tuned to the sound of fingers tapping on keyboards and mice clicking.

Line after complicated line of coding later, Claire was certain that she had recovered Adeline's save file. She opened up Minecraft and logged into her account, then clicked on the save. To her astonishment, it loaded, and her character spawned on a beach. She looked around and saw torchlight, so she moved forward and saw a wooden house with flowers growing under the windows.

Claire stifled a gasp when a character that looked like Adeline and another person that had black hair walked out of the house along with a wolf. She hid behind the trees and watched them run into a cave.

Once she was sure they were deep inside, Claire walked up to the mouth of the cave and mined at the entrance. Suddenly, she heard a faint _click_.

She had stepped on a pressure plate.

Gravel began to rain down all around her, and she even saw gravel fall deep inside the cave when she ran out. She had tried to save Adeline, but instead trapped her cousin and that mysterious other user inside a cave.

Crestfallen, with the moon coming up behind her, she turned around and ran smack into an Enderman. It startled her, and she let out and audible gasp, then covered her mouth when she heard Cam roll over in his bed.

Suddenly, the chat bar began to fill up with dialogue.

"Enderman: I knew you would come here."

Claire was too shocked to grab her sword and stab it to death.

"Enderman: So I set up that trap, hoping it would kill you. I was wrong. You have very quick reflexes."

Claire gulped, her eyes wide and shaky.

"Enderman: Tried to play the villain, huh? Well, you were not very successful, were you?"

The enderman didn't know that she was trying to save her! Sweat poured down Claire's face as she tried to type a reply. But the chat bar wouldn't open.

"Enderman: Stupid girl! I will punish you!"

The screen began to twist and distort like Claire has stepped into a portal. Dizziness began to overwhelm her, and she heard a ripping sound as her whole body was yanked into the screen...

* * *

><p>"You have an intestine in your hair, Adeline." Best awkwardromance quote ever.<p>

Woot! I have heard your requests of Claire/Cam logging into the game to help her, but you never expected THIS, did you? Actually, it was a little predictable. I'm not good at twists.

Anyway, time for Q&A time! :D Ask the characters any question, and they will answer in the next chapter! But only if the answer doesn't make me give you a spoiler. That doesn't mean I won't do RtR though, if someone has a question for ME, I will still answer it. :3 It doesn't have to be to Adeline or Shadow either! It can be Cam, or Adeline's mom, or Rex, or even that spider that Adeline saw in Ch. 2! Actually, now that I've said that, all of the questions will be to the spider ._. Try to look at the reviews and ask a question that hasn't been asked/ a question to a person that hasn't been asked anything. Adeline/Shadow are exceptions.

Sorry if that's too complicated. XD See ya in Ch. 7! (My lucky number! :O)

~FMF


	7. Descending the Dungeon

Hey guys! :D I'm sorry about not updating, I had a bit of writer's block and didn't know what to write. I also got Cave Story for my Birthday and it's really addicting. Therefore, this chapter isn't the best, nor the longest. There is some action, though! I'll try not to have writer's block again, and hurry up with the plot.

So.. I was looking around in the archive to see where my story is based on reviews, and I'm in 3rd! :D The stories that have more than me are Minecraft Adventure by Xguy110 (Who has reviewed on my story, thanks so much :D) with 38, and Minecraft: Commence in Zero by Lavender Moonlight in the Snow with 72. Seventy-freaking-two. That's, like, twice as much as mine, and it made me more confident! I have a goal now! :D No offence, LMitS, your story is awesome.

Replies to Reviews!

Zorua: hahaha X3 I can't work with redstone to save my life.

rocket killer: Yeah, I probably won't reply to you unless it's a question or something that made me smile/laugh.

thehotgingerone: Not yet, but I might later. :3

Herobrine: ...I wrote the story, so I think I might know what it is. Unless you're asking the other reviewers .

sol de luna: Sorta, he teaches her stuff because she doesn't know.

SpartaMan22: :D Your review made me feel fuzzy inside. Of course I'll update more! Then, for your question, most likely, but awkwardromance is more fun to write because it ticks the readers off. Like, "Come on! Where's the real romance! D:"

Kyanite Archer: I'm not telling you what happens ;3 And no, he won't have a nameplate. Can you imagine walking around with your name over your head? The name "Shadow" is probably taken anyways .

Alduin: My story... is a... gem? *u* I feel special now.

The questions to the characters will be at the bottom A.N from now on. Now, enjoy Ch. 7! :D

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: Desc<strong>END<strong>ing the Dungeon

I almost stabbed Rex in the chest when he licked my face to wake me up. His startled yelp was the only reason that he wasn't dead, and I apologized and gave him a spit-covered hug around the neck after I realized that he wasn't a monster.

My furry pal in my arms, I placed Shadow's furnace into the stone wall and put a chicken and some coal inside. Once the wonderful smell of roasted chicken began to make me drool, I realized that I hadn't eaten anything other than meat since I got here. I didn't seem to be suffering from lack of nutrition though. On the contrary, I felt stronger than I ever was back on Earth. I almost didn't miss it anymore; I had a pet, I had none back home, was able to beat monsters senseless, had a cute guy following me wherever I went, had the risk of death looming over my had every minute, it was definitely more exiting than Earth!

That's not to say I missed home. My mother was probably worried sick, and Claire and Cameron are probably heartbroken. I missed school (but I don't miss homework), my DS, my iPod, pretty much everything. I sighed, and Shadow stirred.

"Morning yet?" He mumbled, blinking and stretching his arms. Rex jumped over and licked his face as if he hadn't seen him in days. Shadow laughed tiredly and patted the wolf's back, making his tail wag even more furiously.

I took the chicken out of the furnace and grabbed a drumstick, handing it to Shadow. He took a bite and sighed contentedly, savoring the taste of chicken as if he would never eat again. I ripped off a piece of breast and threw it to Rex, who pounced at it and tossed it into the air.

"Don't play with your food, silly," I cooed, nudging my pet with my foot playfully. He growled in amusement and tried to eat my shoe, then was reminded of his breakfast and ate it like nothing happened.

As I watched him eat, Shadow sat on his bed, staring off at the stone and gravel wall behind me with a confused expression on his face. I stopped giggling and looked at him. "Something up?"

He stood up and walked over to the wall, feeling it. Something green was clinging to the stone, and he rubbed it between his fingers. "Moss...?" he mumbled.

"Excuse me?" I tilted my head.

"Moss usually means there's a dungeon nearby," Shadow said. "If we dig past here, we might just run into a dungeon."

I already had my pickaxe out of my bag before he could ask if I was up for the task, and I spun it around in my hand all ninja-like. Proud of myself for pulling off such a stunt, I swung my pick forward and began hacking, Rex trying to help with his claws. Once the wolf realized that all he would do was tear his paws up, he sat down with a huff.

After a few minutes of hard digging, moss began to grow plentiful, and the stone grew different in texture, like cobblestone. Light began to shine through, but from what? Once we broke through the wall, we stepped back, taking out our weapons.

For a moment, nothing happened. In the middle of the mossy room was what looked like a flaming cage, with black things growing bigger inside it.

Suddenly, everything burst into chaos.

Four spiders burst out of the cage in a puff of acrid smoke, and charged at us like they were created just to kill us. Shadow threw a maroon-colored potion at the monsters, and after a puff of dark red swirls, they screeched as burns spread through their body, but they kept coming. I stabbed one in the eyeball with my sword, and swung it against the wall, cracking it open. As Rex ripped at the spiders with his sharp claws, more spiders came out of the cage, and they were beginning to outnumber us.

"There's too many of them!" I yelled to Shadow as I prevented a spider from biting off my arm. He couldn't hear me over the sounds of hissing and clicking, and I hacked at the monsters' legs, sweat pouring down my face.

They were beginning to overpower us, and as I was fending off a spider on my sword arm so I couldn't use my weapon, one clinging to my back with its hairy legs tickling my neck, and another sinking its fangs into my leg, I began to doubt our chances of survival. I was unable to do anything about the spiders attacking me, and I prepared for my death as another came leaping at my face...

Twang!

Shlick!

Something shot into the spider's red eyeball and it screamed as it collapsed and its legs coiled up. The same thing happened with the spiders on my arm, leg and back, and they loosened their grip enough for me to shake them off and stab them in the chest.

The spider on Shadow's head was shot as well, and it fell off and landed in front of Rex, who quickly chomped at it, ripping out its organs and killing it instantly. Shadow took four torches and placed them around the cage, I guess so no more spiders could spawn. We gasped for breath, then looked around. What had saved us?  
>"Looking for someone?"<p>

My eyes widened. I knew that cocky voice anywhere!

...Claire?

I turned, and spotted my beloved cousin standing there in the entrance to the dungeon with one hand on her hip, and a large wooden bow in the other hand. There were spatters of blood on her multicolored hair, and her bright blue eyes held a mischievous twinkle.

"Claire!" I cried in delight, running at her and giving her a hug.

"Hey, cuz," she mumbled quietly. "You're getting spider guts all over my shirt."

"Oh, sorry." I pulled away and brushed myself off awkwardly. I noticed that she had what looked like a cross between a messenger bag and a purse hanging at her hip, a lot different than what Shadow and I used for holding items.

"Who's that dude?" Claire asked, referring to Shadow. He was standing behind me curiously holding back Rex, who wanted nothing more than to lick Claire's face off.

"Oh, this is Shadow," I introduced. He waved sheepishly, one eyebrow raised, and walked away, mumbling something about needing food.

Claire watched him leave, then we walked back into our room. After a pause, she said, "He's really hot."

"Claire!" I exclaimed, disgusted. "You're older than him!"

"Really? I didn't know. Is there stuff in my hair? I want it to look nice before-"

I interrupted her, some strange mix between jealousy and frustration that I've never felt before bubbling up in my chest. "There's blood all over it. It probably won't come out. Anyway, I met him first, so it would only be fair-"

"I saved your lives," Claire said, grinning. "I need payment."

I snickered, because that sounded funny, and Claire gave me a really? look before examining her now-ragged purple nails. "I'm serious. I think he likes me."

"He was uncomfortable! You pulled your shirt down so it would reveal more cleavage than what's healthy for you."

She made a growling sound in the back of her throat and pulled her black-and-white shirt back up. "You got me."

I huffed, then grabbed Rex around the middle before he could lunge for Claire's blood spattered jeans and lick them. He squirmed for a minute before settling in my arms and snuggling his head under my neck. I kissed him on top of the head and he huffed once before closing his eyes.

I laid him on the bed, watching the hole leading to the dungeon. I heard footsteps and drew my sword, but it was only Shadow, carrying three small red apples and a dirty shovel.

"I dug through the gravel and cut down some trees for more wood," he said, grinning and handing me one of the red fruits. "We can probably head home now, the sun was rising when I came back here."

"Awesome!" I said, excited to see grass again. I turned and looked over at the dungeon. The cage still had fire licking the bars from the inside, but no spiders could come out.

"Did you get the stuff in the chest yet?" I asked Shadow as I watched a spider swirl around on the inside of the cage, growing bigger. I smirked at it, because it wouldn't be able to get out.

"No," he said quickly. "I forgot, I was going to grab them on the way out."

I kept watching the cage, now beginning to get nervous, as I bit into my apple. The spider kept growing bigger as Shadow walked into the dungeon. Eventually, it began to grow too big for the cage, and suddenly, the spawner burst open, pieces of metal flying all over the place.

I stood up and drew my sword as the spider kept growing until it was at least 6 feet tall. Unlike other spiders, however, this one had small silver rings on its hairy black legs and there was a red gem in the middle of its forehead.

Was it some sort of boss?

It let out a screech that sent shivers down my spine and clicked its shiny mandibles. Rex growled, and leaped toward it, landing on its back and biting a chunk out of its neck. It screamed in pain, but it bucked Rex off, sending him howling into the wall.

I gasped. Rex had never gotten hurt before. If he was dead, then Shadow and I, and possibly Claire, would be heartbroken.

I let out a vengeful battle cry, the apple still in my hand, and charged at the giant spider, stabbing it in the eye. Fluid spurted out and landed on my shirt as the monster shook its head wildly, screaming. Claire took this opportunity to shoot it, and her arrows hit three more red eyes. The spider yowled and backed into the wall as we closed in on it.

When I stepped toward it to kill it, its working eyes opened and its front legs wrapped around my torso, lifting me up into the air. I was flipped upside down, and I screamed as the spider bashed me against the mossy cobblestone and I was thrown onto the floor. My apple was a few inches away from my hand, and I crawled toward it and took a bite. Strength flowed through my body as I grasped my sword again and charged.

As my blade was sent into the red gem on its head, it snapped in two and the momentum sent me flailing onto the floor and knocking the wind out of me. As I panted for breath, I still had the handle, but my stone blade was still inside the spider's skull.

The monster let out a scream that left my ears ringing and it collapsed, its 6-feet-long legs curling up as it died. I laid on the floor, then realized that my pet wolf was seriously injured. I sat up and frantically crawled towards him. He laid on the floor with his eyes closed.

"...Rex?" I whispered, taking my thumb and forefinger and rubbing them against his ear. Shadow walked over slowly and handed me a porkchop to regain my strength, swallowing and watching me mourn for my pet. Was he taunting me by giving me Rex's favorite food?

I ripped off a piece of pork and placed it next to Rex's mouth, tears going down my face. Shadow knelt next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder to try and comfort me.

Suddenly, Rex's tongue came out of his mouth and licked up the piece of meat laying next to him. His tail began to thump, and he opened his eyes and stood up on shaky legs, letting out a happy bark.

"Rex!" I cried, hugging him. He yelped as I touched his still sensitive ribs, and I loosened my grip. Shadow took his hand off of my shoulder and awkwardly stepped away, and Claire seemed to be relieved, much to my frustration.

Rex happily limped along with us as we stepped around the large dead spider, which wasn't dissapearing into smoke, for whatever reason, but Shadow knelt down to its head. He began to... rip out its eyes?

"What are you doing?" I asked, stifling a gag as one of the bright red eyeballs was popped out of its socket.

"Spider eyes are used for potions," Shadow explained. "I've been running low."

I shrugged, and followed Claire and Rex out of the dungeon, leaving Shadow to it. No monsters were walking around; the sunlight pouring through the gravel probably made them retreat back into their hidey-holes. As we walked through the stone tunnel, I could feel sunlight coming from the entrance, warming my face.

Shadow caught up to us a minute later, the round red spider eyes in his belt, and we walked through the entrance of the cave.

The sunlight was almost blinding, as I had gotten used to torchlight in the past few days. Any longer in that cave and my eyes probably would have sealed up from neglect. After blinking like a deer in headlights for a few moments, our pupils returned to their original size and we were ready to return to the house.

The sun was sinking lower into the horizon, and the sky began to turn orange as we headed through the trees back to our house. However, Shadow ran off in the other direction once our small wooden cottage was in sight, a tiny tan dot in the distance.

"What are you doing?" I called out. "We're gunna get slaughtered if we don't get home in time!"

"I saw something!" Shadow called back, and he stooped down next to one of the oak trees and picked something up off of the ground. After rubbing the dirt off, he ran back and showed me it.

It was a bright green feather, about a foot long, and the rays of the sunset bounced off of it, giving it a golden glow. It was tipped with a bright, poisonous purple, like it would kill you if you touched it.

"It's a cockatrice feather," Shadow exclaimed. "I heard they're mystical birds that live up in the Sky World, or the Aether."

"The Aether?" Claire said. "Isn't that a mod-"

"Quiet!" I hissed, stomping on her foot. The last thing Shadow needed to know was that the Aether wasn't in Minecraft unless it was downloaded.

Shadow gave Claire a funny look, somewhere between confusion and amusement,and we walked back to the house as the sun sank below the hills. We broke into a run as the sky began to turn dark, but we knew that we wouldn't be able to make it by the time it was dark enough for monsters to appear.

Once the house was a good 50 feet away, we heard the first moan behind us. We didn't have to turn to know that it was a zombie, and more groans followed it like it was an alarm clock for the other zombies.

I felt one clutch one of the straps on my backpack, so I took my sword out and stabbed it before it could pull me backward into its smelly, undead clutches. I heard Rex bark behind me, then a snarl as a zombie got slashed open by his claws.

It seemed like forever before my hand closed around the doorknob and swung the door open. We bolted inside, but the zombies were fast too, and one of them stuck its hand in the path of the door so it couldn't shut...

Unfortunately, its wrist was so rotted that the heavy slam of the door simply dismembered it, and we heard a yowl of pain as the door shut and a bloody hand fell at our feet. Rex barked in delight and grabbed it in his mouth before eating it in front of the furnace. I made a disapproving noise before taking of my shoes and climbing into my bed, and Claire quickly made a bed from Shadow's crafting table. She placed it close to the furnace before climbing into it as well, and we both mumbled our goodnights before falling asleep.

* * *

><p>I smell a love triangle.<p>

Ahem, anyway, I'm not sure if the name of this chapter is grammatically correct, but I'm running out of words with 'end' in them, some I'm saving for later chapters, like Lavender or Mending. *shrug*

...I hope I didn't give you a hint just there.

Forget I said anything. Now for the questions! :D

**To Rex: Woof! Woof! Bark...[growl] bark [whine whine whimper] BARK? [pant pant]**

Rex: Woof! Bark bark bark! ARROOOOOOO!

**To a cow standing outside the house: Do you like them?**

Cow: Absolutely not! They killed my uncle Bert! D:

**To Adeline's Mom: What happened to Adeline?**

Adeline's Mom: I-I don't know! *cries* She was on the laptop and then she collapsed and then... and then... *hysterics* I don't know if she's dead, or in a coma, or...

**To Rex: Do you like being with Adeline?**

Rex: Oh, yes! I love my master and my master's friend who's also a boy and the rainbow-haired girl and the bone people... Oh, I just love everything! Do you have food?

There. I'm still accepting questions, so keep posting! :D

~FMF**  
><strong>


	8. A Tendency to Attract Trouble

...did you know that when I imagine TMD, I imagine Adeline and co. looking like normal people, and everything else being blocky? I don't know why. Also, Fact: Claire's hair is mostly black, and the highlights are pink, green, blue, purple, and red. Yep.

EDIT: I finally fixed the first sentence of the A.N on Ch. 1. It was starting to tick me off.

EDIT 2: Fixed a few paragraph fails and the smiley face in the Questions section. Fanfic dot Net doesn't like my smiley faces :c

Replies to Reviews!

Have a Little Feith: You know, you're the only user who gives me anything close to critisism. Not to be mean, I kinda like it, actually. :3 Thanks!

Xguy110: My reviews now surpass yours! :D Also, I think I'll stick with the plain ol' Nether so I don't confweez people.

Adanla: ...nah. XD

sol de luna: I don't know, actually. I'll think about how to incorporate him/her/it in a later chapter.

Noir The Fox: My story isn't rated 'M' ._. But thanks anyway! XD

Answers to the character questions are on the bottom of the chap once again. Enjoy, lovely, faithful fans! ^^

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: A T<strong>END<strong>ancy to Attract Trouble

I awoke to the distorted sound of what seemed to be screaming and bubbles of hot lava. When my eyes opened, I felt warm rock under my back, and my left hand in something gooey and grainy.

My eyes adjusted to the bright fiery magma in front of me and the bright golden rock above me, then I took my hand out of whatever it was in and examined the sandy particles it left behind. The puddle full of brown, gooey mud my hand was inside had small darker splotches that almost looked like faces. Creepy.

After wiping the mud on my pant leg, I heard something scream and whipped around. Something huge floated up from under a cliff made of blood red cobblestone; it looked like a sad, wrinkly white jellyfish with tears streaming down its face.

I felt pity for it until its eyes opened.

Under its eyelids were orbs of blazing hot fury, making the tears down its face glow a bright, eerie gold. My eyes widened, and I was too frightened to move, even when I accidentally sunk my hand back inside the liquidy sand. I watched hopelessly as its sagging mouth opened up, and formed a ball of fire. A bloodcurdling scream of agony came out of its mouth and it propelled the ball forward, making it hurtle towards my face.

I felt the heat sting my eyes as it came closer, closer to blasting my face into nothing and the rest of my body with it...

Suddenly, a figure that looked like a person flew in front of me, and absorbed the blast, small embers flying everywhere. It floated in midair with its back to me, then said something to the monster in a different language that sounded like somebody in pain. It seemed to understand it, though, and it gave a loud shriek then floated away.

The person came back down and turned to face me. I gasped as I saw its face. It was a man, I could see that now, and he looked just like the main character from Minecraft, but his skin was a grayer tone and his eyes were blank and emitting a faint glow like the golden stone on the top of wherever this was.

"Greetings," he said. His voice sounded echoey and distant, like three of him were talking at once. "I apologize for the trouble back there. You see, it is currently the Ghasts' mating season, and they become very aggressive at this time."

I managed to regain my voice, but my brain was slightly addled by the traumatic moment. "So, it would've raped-"

"Don't be stupid, girl!" The guy frowned. "It just assumed you were an enemy, not a potential mate! How naive of you to ask."

I looked down, feeling dumb.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the guy continued. He raised his arms, and magma from the pools around us flew into the air as if he were a psychic. "I am Herobrine: Ruler of the Nether Realm, Guardian of Monsters, and Brother of Notch: Ruler of the Aether!" And you are...?"

"A-Adeline," I stuttered. "Adeline Jones."

"Well, Adeline Jones, you appear to be here for a reason, don't you?" Herobrine folded his arms calmly.

"Um, how should I know?" I said awkwardly, standing up and getting my hand out of the mud again. I could feel the red stone's warmth on my shoes, and my feet felt uncomfortably hot.

Herobrine sighed. "Let me spell it out," he rasped, and with a swish, he floated directly through me and landed behind me. It didn't hurt, or feel cold or anything, but it did feel startling when he blinked back in front of me."Do you think I could have done that if you were conscious?"

"What do you-"

"I mean," Herobrine huffed, obviously frustrated. "that you... are... dreaming!"

I paused, then let my arms fall back down to my sides. "Oh. I knew that." I heard a loud snort to the right of me, and I saw a group of what looked like a cross between a zombie, a skeleton, and a pig, each holding a shiny golden sword.

"Do not fear the zombie pigmen," Herobrine said. "They won't hurt you unless you hurt them." As he examined me, giving me the uncomfortable feeling of being scanned with a laser like a barcode at a grocery store, his blank eyes fell on my neck. "Is that...?" He mumbled. "What a lovely necklace you have on. Where did you get it?"

"My cousin," I replied. "She gave it to me on my birthday." I touched the teal orb with my index finger; even though it was unbearably hot in the Nether, it felt cool to the touch.

"Ah, yes," Herobrine said, as if he knew all along and was simply testing me. "Claire, right?"

"Uh, how do you-"

"She, as you Earthlings may say, downloaded me into her computer as, what do you call it... a mod?"

"I think so." I said.

"We had a nice chat through her screen, although I have never seen her actual face, only her, shall we say, skin. A character she calls 'Quote'."

I smirked, then said, "She's here, you know. She got into Minecraft somehow too."

"Oh really?" Herobrine said. "It would be a pleasure to meet her. She has helped me with many things. Like what color the new monster should be, or-"

"Yeah yeah, I'm not interested," I said, crossing my arms. "Why am I here? Are you here to deliver a message? Do I have to save the world or something?"

Herobrine looked down, and said. "Curses. I thought it would be a lot less predictable."

"So I do get to save the world?" I said gleefully. "Awesome!"

"It's not that simple..." Herobrine said cryptically, floating into the air and levitating around a large cliff, as if for fun. Even though he was almost fifty feet higher than me, I could hear him add, "Let me explain." He flew back down, then began, "There is a realm... far above the silvery clouds of the Aether and far below the bloody netherrack and soul sand of the Nether. It is the blackness you see under bedrock, it is the blue you see in the sky on a cloudless day, and it is the dark you see before a thunderstorm. It is everywhere, yet it is nowhere. It's called the End."

I was into it now. This guy could be a freaking author.

"The inside of the End is very plain. It's made out of a mysterious white rock; the sky is black and the stars are distant."

That sounded familiar. "I-I think I've been there!" I said. "In a dream or something."

"Hmm, interesting," Herobrine said to shut me up. "Anyway, the End is where the Endermen go when they use their pearl for teleportation. When the use it, they temporarily appear inside the End. A step there is like 10 steps here. They walk between worlds, you might say. When an Enderman dies and loses its pearl, its soul stays in the End until it recovers enough energy to produce a new one.

"One day, however," he continued. "A new creature appeared, out of nowhere, created from cosmic energy and spite. It's called the Enderdragon."

A small spatter of lava came close to singing my hair and I flinched.

"When the Enderdragon arrived, its powers made whatever Enderman that entered the End stay there, never able to come back out. It can pass through any block, and if the Endermen tried to kill it so they could return to the Overworld, there were crystals floating atop obsidian towers that would heal whatever wounds they had inflicted."

I was still a bit confused. "So... why did the Enderdragon keep them there?"

"You mean does," Herobrine corrected. "The Enderdragon still exists to this day, holding the Endermen captive. We, the gods I mean, believe he is creating some sort of army to take over the entire world.

"But I have only just grazed the surface. When the Enderdragon appeared, a sort of... ripple... spread out all around it, like a stone bouncing on water. The ripple traveled into the Overworld, creating a sort of distortion around the one portal deep underground that could bring any Overworlders to the realm. Monsters that stray too close... their minds get distorted as well. Strange purple rashes appear on their body, and they will attack anything that gets too close. Even their fellow monsters, and eventually... themselves."

I nodded. "So... where do I come in?"

"You must collect Ender pearls from the hearts of the Endermen," Herobrine said. "Then, once you gather obsidian, come back here, to the Nether. When you arrive, you must travel to the ceiling and gather glowstone. Once you find enough, you must travel to the Aether. Once you get there, the Valkyries will tell you more."

"Wh- Valkyries?" I said, annoyed by Herobrine's mysteriousness. "Can't you at least tell me where they are? Or what the heck obsidian is?"

Herobrine shook his head. "This usually happens on Earth, doesn't it? In books? The only person that can help the hero barely says anything, and what they do is cryptic and mysterious. I could tell you, but I think it'll be more fun to watch you figure it out yourself."

And with that, he disappeared in a puff of shimmery orange mist.

I growled in frustration, then shut my eyes as the mist thickened. When I opened them, I found myself laying on my back, on my bed.

What an odd dream.

I heard Claire and Shadow talking to the right of me, but I didn't bother turning my head to watch them. Instead, I kept my eyes closed as I listened. It wouldn't necessarily be eavesdropping because they were right there and it would've been impossible not to hear them.

"So, have you ever made anything out of redstone?" Claire asked.

Shadow replied, "I've never had the courage to go down deep enough to mine any. The most valuable ore I've ever gathered was iron."

"I have," Claire said. I could almost hear her chest puffing out with pride. "I made an entire song out of note blocks. Back on Earth, mind you, on a computer. You wouldn't recognize the song, but it took forever."

"Cool," was all Shadow said before there was a small silence. I took that moment to turn my head and open my eyes.

Claire was sitting on the edge of Shadow's bed while he worked on his little glass project. Still with brown. I cleared my throat.

Claire turned. "Morning, Adeline!" she said cheerfully. Almost a bit too cheerfully.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes as Shadow handed me an apple, his hands smeared with brown. I took a bite of the apple, trying to eat around the chocolate-colored fingerprints he left on the peel.

Claire smirked. "They're just cocoa beans, Adeline. It's not like it's poop."

I didn't know that. I began to eat all of the areas I missed. Chocolate covered apple. Yum.

After I finished, I tossed the core to the still-sleeping Rex, which woke him up. His eyes went from sleepy to shiny in a matter of seconds as he saw the food, and he chomped down on his snack.

Claire stood up and opened the large chest in the corner of the room. She shuffled through its contents, which were scattered around the bottom, then looked up. "We don't have a lot of supplies left."

I yawned widely. "Oh yeah?" I replied. "I guess we'll have to go get some more."

Claire took a tiny iron hatchet out of her purse-thing, and when she grasped it the right way it grew into a full sized axe that she heaved over her shoulder. "Shadow and I can go gather wood, while you go hunting."

Oh crap. I knew where this was going. I needed to act fast. "Uh, er, I'm not that great at killing animals. I think I'll need Shadow's help."

Claire looked disappointed. "You need more practice then. But... if you insist." With that, she walked out of the door, leaving me and Shadow sitting on our beds.

Shadow spoke first. "Thanks," he told me. "I really didn't want to go with her."

"How come?"

"She flirts with me. I could tell she was trying to impress me this morning, you might've heard her going on about her redstone contraptions." Shadow said, getting up and putting on his brown leather hunting boots. As he slipped them on, I looked at my old, worn Converse shoes that were still on my feet. They were beat up: one had a hole in the side, the shoelaces were frayed and useless, and they were both a brownish red instead of black from all of the blood that has been sprayed at my feet. Maybe I'll kill a cow or two for some boots.

I grabbed my backpack and was going to take out my sword when I remembered that it broke when we were killing that giant spider. I turned to Shadow, who was busy hooking some splash potions to his belt. "Do you have any iron? I need a new sword."

Shadow looped the handle of the last bottle around his belt before replying, "Yeah, I have a few. Go look in the chest."

I walked over to said chest and began to rummage through the bottom. Not many things were inside it, but I did find two iron ingots lying under a few apples and a stack of dirt. I look them out and quickly created a shiny iron sword.

Shadow looked over my shoulder. "You know, it's a tradition to name your sword. You should name it."

"Why?" I replied, looking at him. "It'll only get me more attached to it and I'll be sadder when it breaks."

"People say their swords are more powerful when they name them," Shadow told me.

I knew there was no way to argue with him. "Fine," I replied, rolling my eyes. I looked at the small sword sitting in the crafting square and thought for a moment. It was very shiny and looked very sharp, so I decided...

"Silverdart."

By the time I was finished Shadow had made his way to the furnace and forgot about our conversation. "What?"

"That's my sword's name."

"Oh, cool." I guess he had moved on to other things. I looked at the small sword and picked it up. As it grew in my hand, I felt a surge of energy, like the handle was being attached to my hand by hot glue. I stared at the blade, watching the sun bounce off of it. Then, I put it in a small loop on the outside of my backpack, a loop that I could easily reach for when I needed my weapon.

I woke up Rex and we headed out to hunt.

As we walked through the trees, we kept a close eye out for any animals, but all we saw were wild roses and dandelions.

Shadow didn't notice, so I had to catch up with him. The trees began to thin out, and revealed a large desert. The sand and the cactus, however, wasn't what interested me.

What interested me was the group of wooden houses in the distance.

Shadow got excited. "A village!" He cried out. "They have food there! We could go ask the villagers for food!"

He sped forward before I could reply, and I shook my head and followed him. I was glad I didn't need to drink any water here in the world of Minecraft, because I probably would have been suffering from a splitting headache by the time we were halfway towards the village. Nonetheless, I was sweating through my clothes, and I trying to air out my shirt with the small breeze so it wouldn't become see-through.

After about half an hour, our feet stepped out of the sand and onto fine gravel. The houses here were made out of logs and planks, and there was a large cobble building in the middle of the town with lava in the center. Shadow walked toward that first.

I was a bit nervous walking around the village. Were there people here? Or was it a ghost town?

As we approached the small room behind the cobble house, we heard a grunt.

I turned and jumped when I saw the tall man behind us. He was completely bald and had a large nose, something like Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants, not that I watched that show. His thick, hairy arms were folded tightly against his wide chest, and he looked down at us without any noticeable emotion.

"Uh, excuse me..." I began, but Shadow interrupted, "Don't bother. They don't speak our language."

The villager let out a large grunt and walked away, into a tiny house that didn't seem to have anything in it. Once the door shut, Shadow asked, "Can you go collect some wheat from that garden over there? I'll go loot the chest."

I was hesitant. "Would that be steal-"

"Aw, c'mon, Adeline," Shadow moaned. "We have no way to ask permission anyway."

I opened my mouth to reply, then said, "Aw, screw it." and walked away toward the garden, framed by logs.

The dark yellow wheat waved in the breeze, and I playfully kicked at a tuft. It popped out and turned into a small floating bunch, then went into my backpack. I kept kicking at the wheat until it was all stuffed into the pouch.

Once the garden was bare, I heard a yell, then a quick patter of feet and the frantic scrabbling of paws on cobble. I turned around to see Shadow and Rex sprinting out of the blacksmith's as lava poured out of the door. I thought fast and punched a line in the sand and the lava flowed into it. Breathing heavily, Shadow took something shiny out of his belt. and grinned proudly. "Gold," he panted, showing me the shimmery ingot with a 3 in the corner of it. "We found gold and some apples."

"That's it?" I said, a bit disappointed. "You destroyed a building for some gold and apples?"

"They could care less," Shadow argued, waving a hand at the other houses. The villagers inside were walking around in circles like they hadn't noticed. "At least it wasn't the church over there, right?"

"I guess so," I sighed. "What are you going to use the gold for, anyway?"

Shadow shrugged and hooked the gold onto his belt next to the apples. "I don't know... gold is too soft for weapons or armor, it's for decoration, really... I could find some use for it."

I started to walk in the direction of the forest. "Let's head home. Claire's probably worried about us, and the sun's starting to go down."

"Worried?" Shadow said. "More like eating the rest of the food."

Speaking of which, we hadn't hunted any animals yet. They must have been hiding; when we got to the treeline, there were pigs and cows everywhere. I took out Silverdart and used him for the first time. Yes, him. The name just sounds masculine. If I gave him a name, why not give him a gender too?

I sliced a pig's throat open as if it were a strip of posterboard. Not tissue paper, but not cardboard, like my stone sword. Even then, the pig was killed instantly, and its eyes rolled up into its head with a gurgling oink, then it disappeared into a puff of smoke and meat.

The forest became my slaughterhouse for the next 10 minutes, and by the time I stopped spinning around, I had collected enough meat to last us for the next few days. After feeding a hungry Rex a raw porkchop, we headed home as the sky began to turn orange.

The sunset reminded me of the other day after we came out of that dungeon with the giant spider, and I remembered the feather that Shadow had picked up. I turned and asked, "So, what did you do with that feather you found?"

"I keep it in the chest," Shadow replied, then he stopped walking and added, "You know what? I forgot to get a bucket of lava from the blacksmith! You wanna head home while I go do that?"

The sky was becoming red, and I was worried. "What if you get hurt?" I asked.

"Aw, don't worry Adeline," Shadow scoffed confidently. "I'll have a bucket of lava with me once I get it, remember? Potions too. I'll be fine."

I hesitated. "Okay. I'll go back to the house and tell Claire you went back for something."

Shadow nodded and turned around, heading toward the desert once again. I watched him, then called Rex; he had turned and started following Shadow. Reluctantly, the wolf walked to my side and licked my hand.

By the time the house was in sight, the sun was gone and it left behind a small stripe of magenta right over the horizon. Stars began to dot the sky, and I heard a zombie moan behind me. I was used to them by now, but I still flinched, spinning around and spotting the zombie that was trying to hide behind a tree that was thinner than it.

Something seemed off, though. As the first rays of moonlight hit us, I noticed a strange patch of violet on the zombie's green shoulder. The patch spread up onto its neck, almost like a rash.

A rash...

I remembered Herobrine's words. "Monsters that stray too close to the End portal... their minds get distorted as well. Strange purple rashes appear on their body, and they will attack anything that gets too close. Even their fellow monsters, and eventually... themselves."

This must have been an infected zombie.

As I realized that, at least eight more came out from inside the depths of the forest. Purple rashes dotted their body, and their groans seemed distorted as well, almost... echoey.

For once, fear began to cloud my brain, and Rex whimpered. If they hurt me, would I be infected too? Become a mindless distorted being that knew only to kill whatever was around it? Would Rex become a heartless monster?

The group of zombies were so close now that I could smell their hot rotting breath and their decaying teeth. I recoiled, waiting for death. It would be pointless to fight, I couldn't handle all of them...

Suddenly, the zombies turned around and began to attack one another. I watched in amazement as they screeched and yowled, the rashes beginning to cover their entire body. I pressed myself against a tree, watching the whole fight without any intention of moving.

As they were engulfed in purple, the monsters stopped attacking each other and panted heavily, bleeding from all over the place. I bit my lip, waiting for them to realize that there was a fresher piece of meat next to them.

Suddenly, they took their ragged fingernails and plunged them into their throat.

I gasped as the zombies committed suicide, dark violet spurts of corrupted blood squirting from their neck, their bodies crumbling in a heap of rotted purple flesh, then disappearing in a puff of smoke. Breathing heavily from shock, I patted Rex on the head and we walked to the house.

Claire noticed us from the window, and jogged over to let us in through the door. She looked me up and down, then said, "What happened to you?"

"Hello to you too," I laughed, walking inside and hopping onto my bed, Rex following suit. "I ran into a few zombies, nothing to worry about." I didn't want to tell her about my dream just yet, or how I had to save the whole world.

Claire yawned, then reached into the furnace, pulling out some meat. "Chicken?" She offered, handing me a drumstick before I could answer. I gobbled the leg down while Rex wagged his tail at my feet, waiting for a piece to fall to the floor.

"I read your little crafting book while you two were gone," Claire told me, laying on her stomach with her argyle-patterned socks kicking the air. "Pretty interesting. Where'd you get it? You make it?"

"I found it right when I got here," I replied, tossing the chicken bone to Rex. "In the forest. Some luck, huh?"

Claire munched on an apple and said, "Yeah. A bit suspicious, though, if you ask me."

I shrugged and laid my head on my pillow. "Whatever, Claire. If somebody wanted me dead they wouldn't have helped me live, would they?"

Claire brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I guess you're right. Hey... where's Shadow?"

I was wondering when she would ask. "He went back to get something. We ran into a village and there was a blacksmith's. He's going to gather the lava from it."

She closed her eyes, satisfied with my answer. "Okay. I'm going to sleep. 'Night."

"'Night," I replied, but I couldn't sleep. I looked at my necklace, drooped over my pillow. The small teal orb almost soothed me in a way, but I still couldn't sleep.

Not with Shadow gone.

~(|)~

"Goooooooood morning Middleville! I'm Shiela Fairbanks, here with Mariella Jones and some breaking news!"

A fair skinned blonde woman smiled with perfect teeth at the cameras. Next to her was a scraggly middle-aged lady with untidy brown hair and tired, stressed eyes.

"I think we have some odd computer virus going around here, folks! In the past few weeks, 13-year old Adeline Jones fell into a coma while on her cousin's laptop. Doctors are still trying to explain the situation, and there have been reports of wounds appearing on her body and then dissapearing! Once, a puncture wound that usually comes from an _arrowhead_ appeared on her shoulder, oozed a bunch of blood, then sealed up! How odd, don't you think, Adeline's mother?"

The brown haired lady took a deep breath and spoke into the microphone, "It's been hard, Ms. Fairbanks. Adeline doesn't have a dad, see, so I've been home with her two cousins, Claire and Cameron."

"Also, Middleville, Claire was another victim of her laptop! Her brother and Adeline's cousin, Cameron, found her missing with her laptop on. The screen was bright purple and wouldn't shut off until it was unplugged. How's Cameron dealing with these losses?"

"He's doing alright," Ms. Jones replied, running a hand through her hair. "He's been cooped up in the guest room a lot, on the computer, doing heavens knows what. I don't want to bother him."

"That's a good idea," Ms. Fairbanks concluded. She turned back to the camera. "That's all, folks! Keep an eye on your computers, and stay away from purple screens! I'll see you at 10 for the nightly news. Good day, Middleville."

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><p>There! A new record: 8 pages! :O I'm proud of myself.<p>

Also, the next update will be for a new MC story I'm making, called Half-Breed. The chaps will probably be a tad shorter, and the action will be plentiful! Stay tuned!

Now for the questions!

**To the spider under the tree: Do you live there?**

Spider- Indeed I do! I find life under the treetops very comfortable and safe. I plan on living near the miners' house until I peacefully despawn. Or get brutally murdered. Either or.

**To Shadow: Do you like Adeline?**

Shadow- Um... as a friend, I guess... but I know you don't mean that... *wrings hands* ...I guess she's... sorta pretty... I don't know.

**To Adeline: Do you like Shadow? (BTW, you should slap Claire)**

Adeline- Um. He's cute, I have to say that. I've only been with him for about four days or so, I think I have to wait until I know if he's nice or not. For now though, I'm gunna say yes, only because he's cute. As for the slap thing, I would, but it would be animal abuse. OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!

**To Claire: BACK OFF, BITCH!**

Claire- Heh. You remind me of when I was young and stupid.

**To Rex: Are you lonely? I think you should have a mate and puppies! :)**

Rex- I don't know, girl wolves are cute and pretty and furry but they stay away from me because they said I'm too energetic and I like to fight too much but I think puppies are fuzzy and cute and maybe I might want to have some someday! Do you have food?

**To Shadow: Do you have abs? You should talk off your shirt. And date me. (Me meaning Adanla.)**

Shadow- o_o No comment. (Stalker...)

**To Rex: I hear cats are coming to Minecraft soon... would you like Claire to get a pet cat? If not, what do you have against them?**

Rex- I don't know what a cat is but some strange voice that comes from the sky said that she already knows what pets the rainbow-haired girl will have so I guess that's a no. Do you have food?

**To the spider under the tree: Yo dawg, ah herd u liek clahmbin treez, an makin webz, so ah put a web on yo tree, so yo can clahmb while yo web! **

Spider- Yo, thahnks dawg! Ah've awlways wanted ah webz, an naw Ah has one so Ah can clahmb while Ah web! Thahnks, brah!

**To Adeline: So I heard you like Shadow :3 ...**

Adeline- AGAIN? *clutches hair* Why does everybody assume we're going to get married or something? ARGH!

FMF: ...um... o_o Security! Take Adeline to her Character chamber so she can have some time to herself!

Security: Yes, Ma'am!

...alright. Questions are still up, btw. They'll be up forever. XD

Sorry for not posting some RL stuff in a while, I ran out of ideas. A Notch-Herobrine thing will show up every 5 chapters. So there will be 3 or 4 in this book.

Last time they said the Chosen One would die... what will they reveal in Ch. 10? :O

I'll leave you guys to ponder.

~FMF


	9. A Recommended Mineral

'Ello, my lovely fans! :D I've finally made a new chapter! It's not as long as the last one, though :c And I've beaten Cave Story, so I'll be more active. I would like a few suggestions, though... I'm beginning to run out of ideas... XD SpartaMan222 helped tons with his (or her) little wants. I thank you, SpartaMan. *bows with a gong sound*

Replies to Reviews!

Wikem: Wow! :D Thanks!

Kyanite Archer: Aww, that's alright. :3 You can use that, I don't really care about what people say is made out of blocks and what isn't in their stories and if they use the same way that I do. Just as long as that's it, and the story, characters, and stuff aren't the same.

Stickbug11: *o* Wow! That was deep, man. Thanks a BUNCH.

xoxLEXIxox: I was scared you wouldn't review this chapter! D: And are you suuuuree he's going to make golden apples? :3 *hinthint* I WILL tell you, what he's going to do won't come for a long time.

Spartaman222: Mutated... you know, originally, I was going to make Claire become half-spider during the Spider Queen boss battle, like with a spider's body for a lower half, but 1) I couldn't draw it, and 2) It would be really wierd for what'scomingup- COUGHCOUGH...HACK...COUGH... what? owo

* * *

><p>Chapter 9: A Recomm<strong>END<strong>ed Mineral

KABOOM!

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because my eyes shot open when I heard the sound of thunder roaring. The sky was a deep navy blue, and heavy raindrops were pattering against the window like bullets. Rex yelped when a blade of lightening tore through the sky and he curled up in my arms, shivering like the leaves outside.

Claire woke up once the next roll of thunder shook the walls, and she squinted out the window through her messed-up hair. Groggily, she mumbled, "Maybe we could go out in the rain and hunt or something. Train your fighting skills..." she was interrupted by a huge yawn.

I shrugged, stroking Rex's trembling body. "We could..." I was beginning to think about making leather rainboots until we both spotted a pig a few yards away from our house, oinking around like thunderstorms happened every day. He looked pretty normal, until a bolt of lightning struck him dead on.

Claire and I shrieked at the same time, and we watched as the smoldering pig squealed in pain and fell over. But it didn't disappear.

No, parts of its skin began to rot and turn green, and it grew until it was about five feet tall. It stood up on its hind legs, and a gold sword appeared in its hand as it let out a merciless shriek.

I bit my lower lip. "...Maybe we shouldn't go outside."

Claire nodded in agreement as the pig zombie wandered around in circles yelling at the sky whenever it thundered like a cranky neighbor.

I began to get out of bed to put food in the furnace, then we both shrieked again when we heard the door swing wide open.

I turned, and was relieved to see Shadow standing there, soaking wet and carrying an iron bucket with bright lava on the inside. Rex jumped at him and tried to lick the water off of his pants, and Shadow chuckled and patted his head.

"Hey, Shadow!" I greeted sleepily, putting not two, but now three chicken legs and some stacks of wheat into the furnace to cook. According to my crafting book, putting wheat into the furnace would turn it into bread, for some reason. I'm not complaining, though; at least we don't have to make flour and yeast and stuff.

"Hi," he said, wringing out his shirt and closing the door. "I should probably go dry myself off in front of the furnace, shouldn't I?"

I took the bucket from him and placed it in our chest. I watched it minimize into a small icon, then I replied, "Won't you get cold?"

"Nah," he said. "I need to cool off. I burned my hand pretty bad carrying the lava, the steam coming from the rain hitting it was really dangerous. I should have brought leather gloves or something."

I nodded, and sat down on my bed again, now wide awake.

So... if we couldn't go outside, what should we do? If I had to stay cooped up inside all day, I would probably die of boredom. "Maybe we can build onto our house?" I suggested, patting Rex as thunder rumbled.

"Ooh!" Claire exclaimed. "Maybe we can build a mineshaft!"

I watched the pig zombie thing pick a red flower out of the ground and sniff it like a drug. "What do you mean?"

"Like, we could build an extra room, then create a huge hole that we could mine from so we won't have to travel outside and find a cave to mine in!"

"Sounds good to me," Shadow replied, scratching the back of his head sleepily. He flinched as thunder cracked across the sky. "We may have to stay in here all day, especially if that zombie pigman is going to be hanging out by our house."

I nodded and accepted a slice of bread fresh out of the oven. The wheat I had collected would hopefully last a few weeks. Once it ran out, we could use the seeds I had gathered as well to grow a little wheat garden.

I offered the crusts to Rex, who uncurled himself enough to chomp it down, then resumed the fetal position in my arms. What a hopeless little critter. After setting him down on my pillow gently, I covered him in a red blanket then got my iron pick out of my backpack. Once it grew in my hand, I swung it over my shoulder.

Claire got two 64-stacks of wooden planks from the chest and the same axe she had used yesterday. Then, she pressed her ear to the back wall of the house, listening for any monsters, then she hacked at our wall once the coast was clear.

Blocks of wood fell away as she chopped and zipped back into the stack in her hand, refunding her supply, then once a good amount of our house was gone she rebuilt it. The back now had a large pathway that wasn't quite as wide as the wall, and we worked quickly as we build a large square around what was to be our mineshaft.

We were going to build it underground, like a basement, meaning we would go down some stairs to mine. I placed a door where the steps started, and Shadow lit some torches. We could hear rain patter on the walls, and the occasional clack of skeletons outside. It must have been dark enough for monsters to spawn.

Soon, the wood turned to stone, and we leveled out the stone with our picks, forming a large square room below our house, about 10 blocks long and wide. Shadow placed stairs in a spiral pattern as we dug downward, and we placed the occasional torch so monsters wouldn't spawn. The light from the torches and the boom of thunder gave the mineshaft an ominous feel once we got deep enough.

After digging through about 15 floors or so (which didn't take long with our iron picks), we encountered a cave system. By that time, Rex had trotted down, probably out of loneliness, and I patted him on the head as I spoke for the first time in about an hour, "We don't wanna get lost in here..."

Claire nodded in agreement. "We should place torches and stick together so we don't lose our way. I have some coal here..." She dusted off her sooty fingers and placed a crafting box on the ground temporarily. After I handed her some sticks, the three of us received an equal share of torches. The thunder had stopped by then, so it was eerily silent.

As we walked down a dark tunnel, a loud echo screeched through the walls, and I flinched. After Shadow pried my fingers off of his arm, Claire explained that it was only cave ambience and it would probably happen again.

The only noise for a while after that was Rex's nails clicking on the stone. Then, we began to hear a soft trickle. We turned a corner, and jumped back.

There was a large pool of still water right next to a pool of bright-hot, bubbling lava. Where they joined together was a large stripe of purple crystal.

"Obsidian!" Claire cried. "Aw, we can't mine it though..."

"Why not?" I asked. It looked pretty fragile to me. The block was slightly transparent; you could see the lava flowing behind it.

"We need a diamond pick to mine it," Claire replied sadly, watching Rex lick one of the obsidian blocks then jump back as if it bit him on the nose. I patted him on the head again, and he sat down, wagging his bushy grey tail.

Shadow unhooked his iron pickaxe from his belt, and it grew in his hand. "Well, why don't we go look for some, instead of just standing here?"

"Good point," Claire replied. "Adeline, why don't you and Rex go look down that tunnel, and we'll go this-a-way. We'll meet you back here once you find some or get tired."

I knew better than to argue with Claire. "Alright... C'mon, Rex." We turned and headed down the tunnel as Shadow and Claire walked in the other direction.

It was a lot spookier without Claire running her mouth and keeping it noisy. Now, I could hear every pawstep that Rex took, and every drip of water from the ceiling. Good thing the blocks of stone were completely solid and there were no pebbles to kick. Pebbles falling from the ceiling or being kicked by me on accident would have scared me so bad...

I placed torches down the stone hallway, listening for any moans or clacks from monsters. If I pressed my ear to the wall, I could faintly hear Claire talking through the stone in between the two tunnels, but I couldn't make out what she said. Soon, her voice faded away as I walked deeper.

There was a light in the distance, and a very faint shuffling noise. Probably from monsters. Rex let out a very quiet growl, and I rubbed his ear gently so he wouldn't give us away. I stepped closer, and I could see about five zombies and three spiders walking back and forth, seemingly for no reason. There was lava behind them, and I had to suppress a laugh as a zombie sunk its foot into the molten rock and was killed instantly.

I looked at Rex, and he looked at me, his eyes glowing and his muscles tense as if to say, "Lemme at 'em! I can take 'em on! Please?" My sword came out of my backpack, and we charged.

The zombies turned at my first footstep, and they began to walk toward me, arms outstretched. The spiders were much faster, and one of them pounced at me, mandibles clicking. I tore through its chest as if it were a stuffed animal, and thew it aside as it screamed in pain, legs curling up as it died in a puff of smoke. Rex's eyes glowed red and he clawed and ripped the zombies open, enjoying himself immensely, the sadistic little dog. I helped him by beheading one or two so he wasn't overpowered.

Even though most of the zombies were missing a limb or three by now, they were still alive. Gushing clumpy black blood, they snarled at Rex and I and limped forward. I kicked the center one, and it fell into the lava pit. Rex barked, which startled the last two, and they backed right into the magma.

Rex ate the lumps of rotting flesh left behind as I fanned away the smoke and picked up the valuable string that the spiders dropped. Maybe I could give them to Claire for her bows, or make a fishing pole, like the one in my book. I placed the string, with a 5 in the corner of it, into my bag. The lava made a hiss behind me.

A hiss?

I screamed as the creeper exploded behind me, and I flipped through the air, landing back-first on the wall and sliding down, hitting my head on the floor. Rex yelped as he sailed in the opposite direction. The room wasn't too big, and I managed to crawl over and catch him before he could break his spine on the blocks.

We both breathed heavily for a moment, then I took out a piece of bread and chomped at it, handing Rex a piece of pork. He sat on my lap as we healed our injuries, and soon he fell asleep and began to snore lightly. I put him down on the floor and stood up, knees wobbling. The creeper had left a large hole in the room, and the lava poured down into it. I placed some torches, then used an extra stone block to block off the lava source. The molten magma disappeared, leaving behind strange blocks with crystal-blue speckles in it.

Was this... diamond?

I took my iron pick out and chipped away at the blocks, and when they broke, they left behind a shiny floating gem that was indeed a diamond. There was no mistaking it.

My Minecraftian instinct began to flow, and even though I didn't know diamonds were in Minecraft until about an hour ago, excitement and pride began to flow through me. I collected the diamonds and nudged Rex with my shoe, waking him up. He stretched, and tongue lolling out of his mouth, followed me out of the cave.

There weren't any monsters on the way back; the torches made sure of that. Even then, the silence was a tad bit spooky. Even when I got close to the obsidian meeting spot, Claire's voice couldn't be heard. Did something go wrong?

As I approached the pool of water and the lava, I bit my lower lip nervously. What if they got attacked by monsters and died? Or worse?

There was a small wooden sign on the obsidian, and I had to crouch down to read it. The lava was the only source of light, so I had to get out a torch and wave it in front of me to read the words. Oddly enough, the flames from the torch didn't light the sign on fire.

"Adeline:" It said in Claire's sloppy and loopy handwriting. "Went back to the house, make sure to mine this obsidian if you found diamonds. ~Claire"

I was ticked. They had ditched me to do... whatever they were going to do in the house without me! Claire could go mine her own obsidian; I definitely wasn't going to.

The water next to the lava reminded me of something. A mirror. I hadn't seen my reflection since this entire adventure began, and I wanted to know what I looked like now.

The lava was giving off a good amount of light, but I still placed a torch next to the water. I said Bloody Mary three times in my head, just for kicks, then, once I knew I wasn't going to die or whatever, looked into the water.

My reddish-brown hair was a mess, but a few dips of my hand into the water and some quick rakes through my tangles fixed that. Also, it wasn't oily at all. My complexion was clear, even a bit better than it was on Earth. I couldn't see any zits anywhere.

Had I... stopped aging?

I highly doubted it. Maybe human hygiene wasn't really a big importance in Minecraft. If you didn't need to take care of yourself in the game, you didn't need to here; it would do it all for you.

Well... most of it.

My clothes and some parts of my skin were covered in blood, and a spider eye lay squashed in my hair. I cleaned myself up a bit, then whistled to Rex and stood up.

I walked up the spiraling stairs, ready to chew Claire out for dumping me in a hazardous mineshaft. As I approached the door, I could hear voices.

I had a great idea. I could mine my way out of the tunnel, then jump through the front door instead of the mineshaft door. That would scare her for sure.

A quick look through the windows of the door told me that the sun had just come up and it was safe, except for the occasional creeper. I took my pick and mined through the stairs, then used a stone shovel that I hadn't used yet to dig upwards, making sure that I didn't do this in front of the door. Rex waited in the small tunnel I made before I dug up.

Suddenly, the dirt turned into sand. Instead of being a solid block, it was affected by gravity just as it was on Earth, and it fell on my face by the gallon. I coughed, sand going down my throat, into my eyes, and down my shirt. I swung my shovel around madly, and eventually, it stopped.

I rubbed my irritated eyes, but it did nothing except scratch my tear ducts. Rex huffed as if to laugh at me, and I gave him a look as I blocked off my tunnel so nobody would see it and I climbed up out of the hole.

I was on the small beach next to our house, and I went over to the water and splashed my face, trying to get the sand off of my face. It worked for my cheeks and mouth, but I still had sand in my eyes and up my nose. Okay, the nose part was an exaggeration, but I did have sand in my eyes.

I walked as silently as a creeper toward the front door, and I peered up into the small holes that the door had on the top half. Because there was no glass in it, I could hear Claire's and Shadow's voices clearly.

Shadow was working on his little stained glass project, but this time, there was only glass, no brown cocoa or anything. His hands were smudged with brown, though. Claire was standing next to him, looking over his shoulder. His back was facing her.

"Really, what are you doing?" Claire asked. "Why won't you tell me?"

"I told you, I'm making a stained-glass window for our house!" Shadow snapped. I saw his eyes close in frustration. Claire had probably been harassing him for a while.

"I don't believe you..." Claire said in a mocking singsong voice.

Shadow grumbled something illegible under his breath, and Claire giggled, something that I've never actually seen her do before. Rex sat down and licked his butt impatiently, and I had to look away.

Claire paced around and picked my crafting book off of my little wooden nightstand, which was actually a wooden block sticking out of the floor with a torch on top of it. She flipped through it, then slammed the book down in front of Shadow, placing a long, purple and black crackle-painted nail on the picture.

"See?" Claire said triumphantly. "There aren't any stained glass recipes in here. That means they don't exist! Therefore, you are doing something that you don't want anybody else to know about."

Shadow threw his hands up in frustration. "Why do you think I've been working on it for so long?" he cried. "I'm trying to make it work!"

Claire put her hands on her hips. "I bet you told Adeline, and not me," she said. My eyes narrowed; what was she getting at? "Sweet, innocent Adeline, who's pretty good with a sword and has a cute pet wolf." Her smile became a sneer. "She may be cute, but I'm hot. And what do you like more? Cute or hot?"

Shadow stood up. "You're going too far. How about you just shut up and go... do whatever you do that doesn't involve trying to grab my attention?"

Claire stepped forward and whispered. "...but I've already grabbed your attention."

With a swoop too fast for the human eye to process, she pulled Shadow forward and jammed his lips against hers fiercely. My eyes widened, and so did Shadow's for a minute. Then, his eyes closed, and the last thing I heard before I fell into my own despair was Rex scratching on the door, trying to make them stop.

At least my heartbroken tears would wash the sand out of my eyes.

* * *

><p>*tear* D: Now do you know why a spider's lower half for a body wouldn't work out?<p>

...ooohhMYGODBADTHOUGHTSASDF

Alright, I'm good. Heheheh... but seriously. Wierd stuff, man. WIERD STUFF.

And about that Half-Breed thing I said in the last chapter (I'm not sure if anyone saw), I lied. I'm really steaming along in this story, and I didn't feel like starting a new one. I'll make it eventually.

Now... the questions!

**To the villager: Why didn't you react when your house got burnt down?**

Villager- Huh? o_o That wasn't my house...

**To Shadow: Why won't you admit that you love Adeline?**

Shadow- I-I don't! Why do people keep saying that?

**To Notch: Do you consider Herobrine an annoyance?**

Notch- Nah. He IS my brother, so I do once in a while. Usually, he does his thing, I do mine, and when we get mad at each other we settle it with a nice big monster fight. But he always wins, because he's sorta the Guardian of Monsters, but it's still tons of fun.

**To Claire: What would you do if Shadow decides he hates you?**

Claire- Hah. I don't know what you're talking about.

There. :D I swear the next chapter will be a bit happier. Maybe. I'm not sure yet.

See ya later!

~FMF


	10. I Heart My Boyfriend

I'm so sorry, guys! D: It took SOOO long to make this chapter. I ran out of ideas a few sentences from the beginning, but now I'm okay. Ideas would still be cool. I'll try not to take too long in the future.

Also... 80 FREAKIN' REVIEWS! Thank you, 7, for being the 80th reviewer. Thank you, samzeman, for breaking the most reviews record! I'm so proud! ^^

And... I'M HOSTING A TMD CONTEST! Info will be on my profile.

One more thing before RtR's. I am so surprised that Mr. Spider-Under-the-Tree is so popular! I mean, jeez! Every other question is to him! XD I have a plan to put him in the story later. Probably Ch. 11 or 12. Stay tuned.

Replies to Reviews!

Wikem: Aaaah! :D Thank you! And, I never noticed that! I guess what I mean is this: She knew what diamonds were, but not that they were in Minecraft. She's also slowly forgetting life on Earth, so that may have something to do with it.

xoxLEXIxox: o_o You... bit a hole in your iPod Touch cover? I'm sorry. Your review made me lol :3

Kyanite Archer: That would have been bad :c And I'm touched about the last part :D

SpartaMan222: Hmm... cool idea.

Stickbug11: Yaay! :D And I know that there are some spelling errors. I'm a fast typer. I try to catch them all, but feel free to point some out if I miss them.

Mellifluousness: :O First, coolest penname ever. Second, thank you so friggin' much. That review really meant a lot. Third, your stories are absolutely brilliant. You have great writing skills.

overlordollie: Alright, alright, here you go. o_O

samzeman: Thanks for the fact :3 That'll come in handy when I'm describing building and such.

anon: Really? At least use punctuation. For your question, be patient. -.-

Katykat321: Thank you! Here's the next chapter for ya! :D

* * *

><p>Chapter 10: I Heart My Boyfri<strong>END<strong>

Upon opening my eyes, I found myself surrounded by a strange light purple platform with pillars made of the same material all around it. The sky was a bright crystal blue, and the sun shimmered in the middle without moving, no matter how long I watched it, which was a while.

I turned onto my side, eyes blurring with tears as I remembered what I had seen moments before. The image of Claire and Shadow kissing made me shut my eyes to keep myself from becoming a running faucet.

"Now, now... quit your sulking, girl! It's irrational!"

I sniffed and sat up as a bearded man walked toward me. He wore a set of pure white robes, and a round black fedora was placed sideways on his head, not really fitting with the rest of his outfit.

"Am I dreaming again?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

The guy shrugged. "Yeah... did Herobrine talk to you yet?"

I nodded, rubbing my eyes and standing up. I felt very plain, with my blue shirt and jeans next to this robed dude.

"He probably mentioned me somewhere in his little mysterious ramble... do you remember?"

I thought for a moment. "You're... Notch?"

"In the flesh!" He replied, giving me a very cheeky grin. "I'm assuming Herobrine didn't tell you much about the whole saving-the-world thing, did he?"

I groaned, I didn't want to talk about my fate right now, I was too depressed. "Not really, he felt like he needed to be mysterious."

Notch scratched his beard. "Yes, he tends to do that. What did he say? He never told me, the cryptic little fellow."

"Not much; he was all, "Find the obsidian here, and build a portal over here, then collect the glowstone over there, then-"

"Alright, alright," Notch put a hand up. "Don't hurt yourself. Herobrine likes to watch people suffer. He's a cool guy, but a sadistic one.

"Let's see... obsidian. First you need to find lava,"

"I've found some already," I cut him off. "There's some in our mineshaft. I just haven't gotten around to collecting it yet."

"Good, good," Notch said, folding his arms. "Well, then... once you go mine that obsidian, you need to build a 4x5 frame, then light it on fire. That will create a rift in the dimensions that, upon entering it, will take you to the Nether."

I made a mental list in my head. Mine obsidian, make frame, light it on fire.

"Once you get there," Notch continued. "You must make your way to the top of the Nether and mine the chunks of glowstone that hang from the ceiling. It's not an easy task, but I believe that a determined trio like you and your friends can do it."

Well, that's quite flattering. I nodded, smoothing my hair down from a small breeze that suddenly passed by.  
>Notch looked behind him suddenly as a loud screech rang through the area. "Don't mind that, it's just a cockatrice," he mumbled as I flinched.<p>

"Now then, as soon as you gather the glowstone, you must reach the Nether Fortress: a large building made out of netherrack brick that holds many monsters. Kill the blazes there, and take their rods."

"Excuse me?"

"I said rods," Notch said, one eyebrow raised. "What are you- _ooooooh_. Teenagers."

I snorted. "And then what?"

"Anyway," Notch said, rolling his eyes. "After you get the blaze rods, return to the Overworld and build a second frame out of glowstone. Once you will it up with water, it will take you up here, to the Aether."

Alright, add to the list: Gather blaze rods (heh heh), go back home, build glowstone frame, go to the Aether. Got it.

He changed the subject suddenly. "Do you know what happened to you?"

"No," I answered. I hadn't really thought about it that much. "Do you?"

"Not really," he replied, stroking his beard. "All I know is that somehow, your soul was ripped out of its container and sucked into this world. Your body still stays on Earth, and your family thinks you're in a coma."

My eyes widened. "Oh, god..."

"Would you like to see them?" Notch asked.

"Yes!" I cried. "Yeah, can I?"

"Sure," Notch closed his eyes. "Just hold still.."

Suddenly, a wave of dizziness took over me, and the world went dark.

~(|)~

I seemed to be flying over a room in the hospital once I came to. Nobody noticed me, but I noticed everyone else.

Especially me.

I could see myself lying there on a hospital bed, hooked up to a bunch of tubes. My mother and Cameron were there, looking red-eyed and puffy, while a doctor recorded something on a clipboard.

"Mrs. Jones," the doctor said, almost in a frustrated voice. "Your daughter has not had any signs of coming out from her current state. I would like to ask you again..."

"No!" My mother yelled, balling her hands into fists. "I won't let you kill her!"

What? Was he trying to convince my mom to take me off life support? Crap crap crap... what do I do?

"I swear, Mrs. Jones..." the doctor said, putting his fingers to his temples. "She won't feel a thing. Your hospital bill is going up, and it will be too expensive to continue keeping her alive for nothing. It would be best just to-"

_"You will do no such thing."_

I heard the voice of Herobrine rasp and echo through the room. My mom flinched, but the doctor looked absolutely terrified. He turned as white as his labcoat.

_"You will not take Adeline off of life support,"_ Herobrine said ominously. _"And I will ensure that she is being kept alive for free. She will come back in good time."_

"B-but..." the doctor spluttered. "We'll lose so much mon-"

_"If you don't do as I ask, you and your entire career will suffer."_ Herobrine boomed. _"Everything you know will collapse around you until there is nothing left except you and the small shreds of whatever sanity you have left."_

"Okay, okay, I'll do it!" the doctor cried, clutching his head. "Just leave me alone!"

~(|)~

The world began to shift out of focus again, and I found myself back in front of Notch.

"As you can see," Notch explained. "Herobrine had made sure that you will be kept alive. You don't need to worry anymore, except for the saving the world thing."

I shuddered. That was a creepy vision. "So... you were saying? About how to save the world?"

"Oh yes," Notch adjusted his hat and began again, "Once you're at the Aether, y- Oh my...!"

I turned, and shrieked when I saw a wave of black sweep over the sky, swallowing the sun and leaving us in almost complete darkness.

"Go, Adeline!" Notch boomed, his voice suddenly godlike and echoey. "Wake up! Run!"

Just as a gigantic monster, as big as the whole forest I lived in, flew in on wings that were too big for my peripheral vision alone and let out a deafening roar, my eyes flew open.

I was lying on my back, rain sprinkling onto my face like powdered sugar. Shadow was on his knees, looking at me with a very concerned face. Seeing him almost made me cry again, but I mentally slapped myself.

"You alright?" He asked.

I dusted the sand off of my shirt and stood up. "Y-yeah, I'm fine," I replied, cringing when I heard my voice break.

Shadow's shoulders were hunched, and his hands were stuffed into his pockets. He was standing a few feet away from me, almost as if he couldn't stand to be near me.

"Are YOU alright?" I asked, raising one eyebrow. "I won't kill you."

Shadow looked down awkwardly. "I'm alright," he replied. "It's just... you screamed really loud in your sleep... it scared me."

I didn't believe him. I mean, I believed the screaming part, but not that it was the reason he was acting this way.

"Okay," I lied. "Let's go inside, it's raining really hard." It was true; the raindrops were coming down in marbles now.

He nodded after a moment and opened the door, where I found a surprise.

A small boy was sitting on my bed.

He couldn't have been older than 7; he was at least two heads shorter than me, and his mouth was slightly open in an overbite, revealing missing front teeth. His ruffled hair was almost white, and his curious amber eyes looked up at me.

"Mister," the boy said. "Who's 'dis?"

Shadow turned around. "Oh, this is Adeline," he replied. "She's my...friend."

"Are you two married?"

We both paled. "N-No!" We said at the same time. I looked at him, but he turned red and looked away, almost sadly.

Then, he turned back to me. "I... found this guy lying on the beach, all he had was a small knife and..."

The boy yawned as something came up from behind him. It was small - only about a foot tall - and was a slightly transparent green. Black button-like eyes peered up at me.

I yelped and took out Silverdart, pointing him at the thing.

The little boy shrieked and grabbed whatever it was around the middle. "Don't hurt Sploosh!" he cried. "He don't hurt nobody! He's nice!" He was squeezing "him" so hard that the upper part of him drooped over his arms.

I lowered my sword, feeling mad at myself for pointing Silverdart at an innocent creature. "Sorry dude," I said, sitting down next to him. Rex was sleeping on the red sheets behind me, and I patted him on the back. "What's your name, kid?"

"Uh-um-uh-uh..."

Shadow looked at me. "I forgot to say; apparently, he lost his memory. He can't remember his name, or where he came from, or nothing."

"Alright, don't hurt yourself," I waved my hand at the kid in a 'Nevermind' gesture. "I don't need to know. It's fine." I turned to look at Shadow's workbench. "What are you working on?"

There were small glass discs on Shadow's table along with some cocoa beans. Was this still his stained glass project?

Shadow tensed up, then quickly walked to his table. "This? Nothing! I was just... experimenting!" Suddenly, with one swoop, he swiped the glass off of the crafting table, and they shattered into tiny, fatal pieces.

"The crap?" I stood up. "What was that?"

"Uh, whoops..." Shadow mumbled. "I, uh, don't know. Panicked, I guess."

Once again, I didn't believe him.

The boy was about to jump down and help, but I stopped him and helped Shadow sweep the glass into a small pile. Once the pile of glass was safely cleaned up, Claire came up the mineshaft stairs and through the door.

"Hey, guys!" Claire bounded next to Shadow and he... put an arm around her? And smiled?

I could have dropped dead right there.

Claire gave me an artificial-looking grin. "Where were you? I was worried."

Yeah, right. Quick, Adeline, lie. "Um, I was... outside. Collecting some, er... apples. For food. Can't have enough food!"

She nodded. "True, tr- OH... MY... GOSH!"

Claire let out a squeal that was almost too high-pitched for human ears and dashed over to the little boy. "He's so cuuuute!"

The boy looked up and hugged his... whatever it was tightly. "Who are you, lady?"

"I'm Claire!" Claire answered cheerfully. "What's yours, kiddo?"

"Uh-um-uh-uh..."

"You don't know?" Claire tilted her head, blinking her heavily eyelashed eyes. "Well then... I'm gunna name you Squirt! 'Cuz you're small."

Squirt put his pale index finger to his lips. "Hmm... okay!"

Claire then gasped and took Sploosh out of Squirt's arms, ignoring his mew of protest. "A slime?" Claire gaped at the small thing. It was about the size of a block of dirt, but it seemed even smaller lodged in between Claire's, er, boobs... as she gave it a suffocating squeeze. "I love it! What's its name?"

"Sploosh!" Squirt yelped. "Give him back! He doesn't like being squeezed too much!"

Reluctantly, Claire gave the slime back to the boy. "How do you know? He, I guess... that's what you called it... was smiling..."

"He always smiles!" Squirt replied, pouting. "But he said he didn't like being squeezed too hard."

I tilted my head. "He... said?"

"He talks to me!" Squirt gave me a proud, toothy (or lack thereof) smile and hugged Sploosh, who cuddled into his neck, or really, shaped himself around his chin. A very odd sight. "But he doesn't move his mouth! I can hear his voice in my head. That's how I know Sploosh is a boy."

"I... see." I mumbled, scratching the back of my head. Sounded like a bunch of porkchops to me.

I just made that term up.

Anyway, I went to say something to Shadow, but he had moved from his crafting table and was looking out the window.

"What are you doing, Shady?" Claire said sweetly.

...Excuse me? Shady? I could kill you, but I won't, Claire. Because we're related.

Shadow didn't seem to react to Claire's cutesy nickname. "I'm looking outside," Shadow said simply. "I see some wierd looking trees to the north. They weren't there yesterday..."

I walked over and looked out the window too. He was right; past the forest that was all around our house were extremely tall trees, taller than mountains, almost. They had many different branches, unlike regular trees, which had a perfectly straight trunk with no branches, and their leaves were a very bright green.

Squirt sat up and walked over too and pointed out at the odd forest. "Ooh!" He exclaimed. "Ooh! That's where I came from!"

"Oh, yeah?" I replied, patting the boy on the head like a dog. Hey, I couldn't resist.

"Yeah! I woke up in a tree with Sploosh and this thing." He held up his knife. I had forgotten; knives didn't exist here, did they? You couldn't craft them, they only existed on Earth. It could be useful.

Claire clasped her hands in excitement. "Why don't we go over there and investigate then?"

I shrugged. "Alright." I wasn't too enthusiastic, but anything to get out of this house for a while.

Shadow walked over to the chest in the corner of the room and examined its contents. "Hmm," he mumbled. "We're running low on food. Think we should get some before starting?"

Claire nodded. "We could make a fishing pole, those are easy to craft and they'll give us lots of food."

Fish... I had forgotten about fish. Back on Earth, I wasn't a big fan of seafood, but now, I wanted to eat anything besides chicken and bread.

I grabbed my crafting book and flipped through it, looking for the fishing pole recipe. I found it in the Utility section. You needed three sticks and two lengths of string to craft a fishing pole, but we didn't have any string. I gave all of mine to Claire so she could rebuild a new bow.

Shadow knew that too, but he had an idea. "Remember that giant spider that almost killed us back in that dungeon?"

"Yeah..." Claire and I said, except she was smiling.

"Well," Shadow began. "It didn't disappear into smoke when we killed it, I was thinking... it might still be there!"

"Oh!" I replied. "We could, like... get the string out of its... string gland. Or whatever it is..."

Claire laughed. "I'm down with that. Wanna come too, Squirt?"

"Yeah!" Squirt jumped off of my bed, his face almost glowing with excitement. "I wanna go fishing too!"

Squirt had one of those smiles that made all traces of negative emotion go straight out the window. I found myself chuckling, and replied, "The more the merrier. Let's go."

We grabbed our weapons (just in case), some food, and a spare workbench that I had made with my backpack grid, as Shadow was rather reluctant to use his. Then, after waking up Rex, we left for the dungeon.

I never really noticed how beautiful the world of Minecraft was. Sure everything was made out of blocks, and lots of things didn't really have as much reason to exist as Earth objects did, but because of the odd physics, this place was almost cooler than my original life! Hills assumed strange shapes that would have collapsed in my previous world, water lapped at the sand blocks without washing them away, and small squares of leaves hung in the air from where we cut their trunks down.

Because I was admiring the world so deeply, I almost missed the cave and Shadow had to grab my sleeve, which made me blush and look at him. He quickly looked away as if he regretted it.

The cave was still lit up with my and Shadow's torches, so we walked down the descending tunnel without having to do anything or break any blocks. Squirt seemed a bit nervous, as he was just a kid and hasn't been exposed to this kind of stuff.

Or has he?

He couldn't remember his past, maybe he lived on Earth and was transported into Minecraftia (That's what I'll call it). Maybe there was some sort of human tribe living somewhere in the jungle. I may never know, unless someone who knew him magically appeared and explained who he was.

Anyway, we approached the dungeon, and I sighed as I remembered the small dead-end with the pond, and Shadow pulling a zombie intestine out of my hair. The only thing close to romance I may ever receive.

I looked around the corner and looked through the hole, where we picked through the wall to reach the spider-filled cave. Sure enough, the giant spider was still there. Its legs were curled up, and its eyes were missing (courtesy of Shadow), but it didn't seem to have decomposed or anything.

Shadow stopped down next to it and examined the back of the giant monster. Suddenly, he stuck his hand into the hole on its behind and pulled out a wad of string with a 7 in the corner. I put down my workbench and, with Claire's instructions, crafted a fishing pole out of three sticks and two pieces of the string.

Then, we crawled out of the dungeon hole and sat around the small pool inside the dead-end. It wasn't very deep, but Claire swore we would catch something. So, I tied a mushroom I found to the end, cast out the fishing rod and waited.

After a few minutes I began to get distracted, and watched Squirt pick some mushrooms from the corner and feed them to Sploosh. He did that by placing the toadstool on the slime's head, then it would be absorbed into the center to be digested. What a strange creature.

There was a jerk on my pole, but there wasn't a reel, so I just lifted the rod up. Sure enough, a fish had bit down on the end of it. It was small and streamlined, a blueish-gray color with a dark stripe down the middle. It looked fairly unappetizing, but once Claire created and lit a furnace, it ended up tasting great.

After the cave began to smell like fish, and we had shiny fish scales all over our clothes, we cleaned up and walked out of the cave. The sun was sinking into the mid-afternoon sky, but we still had a while before it would get dark.

Rex and Sploosh followed us loyally as we trekked through the woods towards the tall trees. The air began to grow humid, and after a few minutes, the trees cleared to reveal...

A jungle!

The trees almost touched the clouds, and their multiple branches grew long vines that twisted and braided to the ground. Long grass and bushes covered the floor, dotted with moisture.

I wiped the sweat off my brow and began to walk again when there was a rustling in the grass.

We all froze.

Something yellow darted out of the bush and yowled, flying at my head. Shadow lunged forward and caught it around the middle before it could eat my face, and Squirt yelped as it flailed and twisted in Shadow's grip.

It looked like a very small leopard. Bright yellow fur with black spots bristled as it tried to escape Shadow's hands, and it hissed, revealing bright, sharp teeth.

Claire tilted her head. "An ocelot?" She asked quietly to herself. "Wait... how did I know that?"

I shrugged, the realized I knew it was an ocelot too. Maybe Minecraft updated in real life, updating our brains as well.

Rex must not have know, however, as he was growling at it fiercely, his eyes glowing red like when he's fighting monsters. I rubbed his ear between my thumb and forefinger, but he still didn't calm down.

The cat squirmed out of Shadow's hands and ran into the bushes. We watched it leave, and I had to grab Rex by the scruff of the neck to keep him from chasing it.

We all looked at each other. Should we go after it?

"Nah," Shadow said, as if he could read our minds. "Don't bother. Not worth it."

I didn't reply, but put my backpack on the floor so I could rummage through it, looking for some torches.

Squirt stooped down next to me and poked my necklace, which was hanging down as I was hunched over my supplies.

"Pretty!" He said, watching it sway back and forth in response to his touch. "That's a cool Ender pearl!"

We all froze. Again.

Shadow looked at him. "What did you call it?"

"An Ender pearl!" Squirt said matter-of-factly. "They're small and blue-y green-y, like that! And they're, like, um, marbles. They look like marbles."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's an Ender pearl?"

Claire blinked a few times. "Ender pearls are held by Endermen. You get them when they die. But... I don't get it! I bought this back at home. At a jewelery store. So... how could it be an Ender pearl?"

Woah. So, this could be a dead monster's stone? I looked at it and held the pendant in my hand. It felt cool to the touch, even though the air was hot and moist.

"Only one way to find out," Claire replied to her own question. She unclasped my necklace and slipped the pendant off of it. Then, she chucked it as far as she could.

I almost screamed. "What the... Cl- AAAAAAAH!"

A few seconds later, I did scream. I zipped through the air toward the pearl, and everything around me became a blur as I landed next to it. The wind was knocked out of me as soon as I landed, and I gasped for breath as the group ran over to me.

"Ow..." I rubbed my head. "What was that?"

"It's an Ender pearl all right," Claire murmured. "But Squirt, how did you know that?"

"Um..." Squirt squeezed Sploosh tightly. "I don't know..."

"Have you ever seen an Enderman? Did you kill it and find an Ender pearl?"

"Stop asking me questions!"

"Alright, alright, don't get worked up over it," Claire put her hands up in front of her. "I'm just curious as to how you knew what Adeline's pendant was."

"I don't even know what an Enderman is!" Squirt yelped. "Actually, monsters really don't bother me. They just... look at me."

"Look at you..." Shadow replied. "Like, how?"

"I don't know, most of them don't have eyes!" Squirt cried. "But they don't try to kill me, even though they're really scary. Maybe Sploosh scares them away."

"Possibly," I said. I looked to the horizon. "The sun's going down; we might want to find shelter. I bet lots of monsters could hide in these trees." I put my necklace back on. An Ender pearl, huh? Maybe that's why Herobrine was so interested in it.

We got some wooden planks out of our bags and began to build a small house. It was only temporary, so it didn't need to be too fancy. After we placed four beds and some torches, we were all set to go to sleep.

Once Rex jumped up on my bed and curled up, we heard a scratching at the door. Claire opened it, and to our surprise, the ocelot was standing there. I knew it was the same one because Rex began growling again.

"Hey, sweetie..." Claire cooed, scratching its head. "You hungry?"

"Meow," the wild cat replied, rubbing against Claire's leg and purring. I took a leftover raw fish out of my bag and handed it to Claire, who offered it to the cat.

The ocelot sniffed it, as if checking for poison, then grabbed it with its mouth and sat down in a corner. Suddenly, the ocelot's fur began to lose spots and become lighter. Dark patches appeared on its paws and face.

"I'm going to name you Flippers," Claire said cheerfully. "I think she's a girl, the way she eats so daintily. But just in case she's a boy, I'll name her something that could be both genders." Flippers hopped onto Claire's pillow, and Claire got into bed too.

"Good idea," Shadow replied absentmindedly, getting into his bed as well and closing his eyes. I watched him sadly for a moment before Squirt said something.

"Addy-line?" he whispered, because Shadow and Claire were asleep.

"Hm?" I mumbled, taking off my shoes and getting under the covers. My eyelids suddenly felt like they were twenty pounds.

"It's fun staying with you guys," he said sleepily, his covers pulled up around him and Sploosh. I was afraid that slime would suffocate the kid in his sleep. "I'm not as scared as when I'm alone."

"Me too, kiddo," I answered, petting Rex as he squirmed under my sheets next to me. Now that it was nighttime, the jungle had gotten much colder.

Things were quiet for a long while, and soon enough, everybody drifted off to sleep. Even in my tired stupor, I could hear the faint rustling of sheets and the moans of monsters outside. I had gotten used to sleeping with the lights on, because without them, we would probably get killed.

Then, right before sleep took over me, I heard the twang of an arrow, and a loud, blood-chilling scream.

~(|)~

"You look terrible."

Notch set down his book and looked up at Herobrine, who had entered the room looking extremely frustrated.

"It's nothing, brother, I'm just... stressed."

"About what?"

Herobrine sighed, and sat down on a wooden table next to his sibling. "The ghasts aren't saying anything else besides the fact that the Chosen One won't make it through their prophecy. Like, I already know that! You've told me thousands of times!"

Notch nodded in understanding. "I know what you mean. How did the hospital visit go?"

"Splendid," The empty-eyed god replied. If his eyes had pupils, they would be glittering with amusement. "Scared the doctor out of his wits. Adeline's not going anywhere."

"Good, good," Notch said, fixing his hat so it was at a trendy angle. He then took out a transparent block that looked like glass, but had fog swirling through the inside. He peered into it, and an image of Adeline and the rest of the group appeared.

Adeline seemed to be rummaging through her backpack, when a little white-haired boy walked up to her.

"Who's he...?" Herobrine asked to nobody in particular, eyeing the boy with suspicion.

"No idea," notch said, shaking his head.

The video zoomed in until they could hear the voices clearly.

"Pretty!" the boy said, poking Adeline's necklace. "That's a cool Ender pearl!"

"WHAT?" the two gods yelled at the same time, jumping up. Notch's hat fell off in the process, and he had to bend down and pick it up.

"How does he know that?" Notch panicked, furiously stroking his beard, almost ripping off his moustache.

"I have no idea!" Herobrine cried, his white eyes wide. "What do we do?"

Notch shrugged. "Let's just leave it. They would have figured it out anyway."

"You're right," Herobrine replied. "Let's go have some jungle-leaf tea. I'm so glad you made jungles, they make a great drink."

* * *

><p>Cliffhanger! :D Mwahaha! I feel so evil. I love Squirt, he's fun to write and he's super cute.<p>

Second, I forgot to say this on the top, but I'm making a DeviantArt page! It'll have pictures from TMD on it, and pictures of the characters and stuff. I'll post it on my profile once it's created.

Now for questions!

...

**To the bread: Did it hurt when they cooked you in the furnace? **(Great question, by the way, I lol'd)

Bread- (I cannot talk because I'm dead.)

**To Rex: What's your favorite type of meat?**

Rex- I like pork a lot but I also like beef so maybe both but if they made an animal that was pork and beef at the same time that would be awesome!

**To Adeline: COME ON, GIRL! DON'T JUST STAND THERE. BURST OPEN THAT [censored] DOOR AND BE ALL LIKE "OH HEEEEEEECK NAW CLAIRE, BACK OFF!" Please?**

Adeline- I wish I could...

**To Claire: IHATEYOU YOU'RESUCHASTUPID[censored]CHEAPFLOOZIE I HATE YOU.**

Claire- ...looks like you're not my biggest fan. ;)

**To Shadow: Who do you like better? ADELINE, or *grits teeth* Claire? YOU BETTER SAY ADELINE OR I'LL (She cut the rest of this off because she doesn't like swearing.) **(God, I love you Lexi XD)

Shadow- ...

**Question to Adeline: *pats back* You okay? Will you still continue to crush on Shadow after what happened? C'mon, cheer up. He doesn't like her, y'know...**

Adeline- I'll be alright. Thanks.

**To Adeline: Who cares if it is crulty to animals? Give Claire the whack she deserves!**

Adeline- I'm not the strongest. She could beat me up.

**To the spider under the tree that may or may not be still alive: Are you friends with that wolf Rex?**

Spider- Sure. I don't know...

**To Shadow: How does it feel to be part of a possible fan-made love triangle that must be driving you up a wall?**

Shadow- Extremely annoying.

**To Adeline: Would you describe the day you had as painful?**

Adeline- Yeah...

**To Claire: Why are you obsessing about a computer generated AI that clearly wants nothing to do to you?**

Claire- Ha. He's not an AI. He's a real human being.

**To the spider under the tree: Are you still existant? If so, why are you so... non-hostile at night?**

Spider- Non-hostile? How do you know if I'm non-hostile or not? :3 (To clear things up, Adeline saw that spider during the day.)

**To a nearby pig: What do you think of the zombie pigman?**

Pig- Really wierd.

**To the zombie pigman: What do you think of other pigs?**

Zombie Pigman- RAARGH I MUST KILL THEM ALL.

**To Herobrine: Are you mad that everyone makes you out as a terrible primal evil thing that wouldn't hesitate to destroy humanity if it had the chance?**

Herobrine- Yes! I have no idea how people thought I was Notch's DEAD brother, out for revenge. How did that happen?

**To Ghast: You DO realize Herobrine is a god, right?**

Ghast- ...yeah?

**To the spider under the tree: Will you ever get an official name, even as simple as Mr. Spider or something, so we don't have to keep typing out "to the spider under the tree?"**

Spider- All in good time. Feel free to call me Mr. Spider.

...

There. That took a while. Contest info will be up soon. See ya later! :D

~FMF (I still have no idea how Mr. Spider is so popular.)


	11. Endowed with a Large Vocabulary

Hey guys! Happy Spring Break (For me, anyway), and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Before you read, I would like you to open up Youtube, look up the song Subwoofer Lullaby by c418, and play it. You'll know when to stop.

Second, I forgot to describe Mr. Spider. His two largest eyes are blue and green, respectively. I put that in this chapter, but you might skip it if you're like me. I sorta read in chunks, and skip a lot of parts (It's a habit :c).

I will now announce one of the contest winners! The first winner is: Mellifluousness, with her character, uh, Mellifluousness! Congrats! Don't worry everybody, there will be more winners.

That's all XD

Replies to Reviews!

xoxLEXIxox: Hahaha XD Iron golems will probably come in later. Sometime. I think.

Kyanite Archer: Don't worry, Sploosh will not kill Squirt. He's too awesome.

Mellifluousness: Heehee, your reviews make me laugh. :D

Lemiux: Yeah, you described Herbrine spot-on. And I think I'm confusing people with Claire's personality change... better make something up o_o

Curtisimo: I'm-a say right now that your prediction is wrong ;)

brown-eyes-of-ender: She sees herself and her friends as normal people. Everything else is blocky.

7: I'm thinking around 20 or 25 chapters. I'm going to have to see where I'm gunna go with this.

Now, enjoy the chapter!

EDIT: Finally fixed the color error. That took a while.

* * *

><p>Chapter 11: <strong>END<strong>owed with a Large Vocabulary

I bolted out of bed as the terrified scream froze the air with its chilling tone. Who could it have been? Another person being attacked by monsters?

Breathing heavily, I whipped the door open so hard I felt it whoosh past my face, then ran outside, looking for whatever caused it.

The forest was eerily silent. Because crickets and bullfrogs didn't exist in Minecraft, I was enveloped in quiet. The only thing that made noise was the faint breeze that ruffled the leaves and the faint _drip, drip_ of...

Of what? Oh Notch, what was making that noise?

My breath was coming in shallow gasps as I tiptoed forward, making sure the grass didn't crunch under my feet, lest a zombie hear it and attack me. I paled when I realized Silverdart was still leaning next to my bed, forgotten in my panic.

The dripping noises were getting the tiniest bit louder as I walked forward as stealthily as a Creeper, and every time a leaf rubbed against another wrong, I jumped ten feet.

Suddenly, once I had passed under a tree, I felt something drip onto my neck. Something warm.

I had to hold back a scream as it ran down my throat and onto my shoulder. Carefully touching the drop with one finger, I examined it.

Hot... sticky... red... blood.

My lower lip trembled. It had been a while since I had truly felt fear, and tonight made it worse. Slowly, I looked up.

Then, I really did scream. Screamed for a full twenty seconds, screamed until my throat felt like it was torn to ribbons.

Shadow and Claire ran outside, sleep making dark circles under their eyes.

"What..." Claire began, but she stopped once she saw it. "Oh... my... god."

The body that was attached to the trunk of the tree was none other than Squirt.

His hands and feet had long, sharp arrows driven through them, and a single, thicker arrow ran straight through his chest. Blood ran down the puncture wounds that they made, turning the base of the tree dark and wet.

Nearby, Flippers hung by her tail from a vine coming down from the leaves. She, too, was dripping bright red blood, but only from her neck, which had a vine wrapped around it, but not hanging from the leaves.

We all stood there, completely petrified, for what felt like half an hour, then Squirt let out a moan of pain, which made us flinch.

"Addy...line?" he groaned, and I was there, right in front of him.

"Y-yeah?" I felt my voice crack, and tears lined my eyes. "You're gunna be okay, Squirt, we'll just fix you up and..."

"No I won't," Squirt kept his eyes closed. "I'm gunna die, you know it."

"That's not t-true!" I yelped. "We'll just get you down from this tree, and then-"

"Don't," Squirt interrupted. "You don't have to. C-can you... tell Shadow..." He began to cough, his lips becoming bright red.

"Tell him what?" I answered. "Come on, just a few more words, then... then you can go."

"Tell him... thanks," He replied. "Thanks...for... telling me..."

"Telling you what?" I was desperate now. "Please?"

"He... didn't want me to tell... anybody..." Squirt's voice was becoming quieter with each word. "Can you... take care of Sploosh... for me?"

The baby slime appeared from behind the tree, and I scooped him up. "I promise. He'll grow up to be a nice pet, b-because you took care of him." My throat became the same width as a straw, and I had to choke down a sob.

"O-okay..." Squirt whispered. "Thank you..."

I put a shaking hand on his cheek. "N-no problem."

Suddenly, his eyes opened, and bright beams of green light, the same green as Sploosh's body, burst out from them, and many other places on his body. The jungle around us became white with energy, then a large CRACK! sounded through the sky.

When the light faded, Squirt was gone.

I dropped to my knees, and began sobbing my eyes out, no longer caring if monsters heard me or not. Sploosh began to whimper, then he bounced in my lap. I heard a faint, slightly squeaky voice in my head say, _"...Master?"_

I guess he could talk after all.

"Your master's gone n-now, Sploosh," I replied out loud, rubbing a thumb against the slippery surface of his body. "He's not c-coming... back..."

_"Oh..."_ Sploosh replied. He didn't say anything else after that.

I swallowed, then set down the baby slime. All of the blood was gone from the tree, but one arrow remained, right where Squirt's chest was. I grabbed it and pulled it from the tree, but I yanked it with such force that, when it came out, I landed hard on my butt.

There was something wrapped around the stem of the arrow. After unrolling it, it turned out to be a sheet of thick, yellowed paper. There were words on it, written in what I hoped was just bright red ink.

_Cute things always die in the end._

I crumpled it up and threw it into the bushes. That was when I noticed a strange trail leading from the tree, going behind our makeshift house. Where we originally came from.

The trail was made up of dark, purple goo.

I hastily stood up and turned around. Claire was holding her dead cat in her lap, tears going down her face, and Shadow was kneeling next to her, stroking her hair. I sat down by them.

"I'm sorry," we all said at the same time.

"Squirt liked you the most," Shadow mumbled, looking down steadily, like he couldn't look at me. "I don't know how he got out here, or why."

Claire said nothing. At some point, Rex walked out of the still-open door and sniffed at Flippers' body, then whined and licked my hand.

I broke the silence. "There's this weird purple trail leading away from Squirt's tree. Once the sun comes up, we should follow it."

"Okay," Claire replied simply, taking a mini iron shovel out of her bag, then maximizing it. She walked over under Squirt's tree, then dug a hole two blocks deep and placed Flipper's body under it. After she covered the hole, there was a puff of smoke, signaling that Flippers was probably somewhere up in the Aether.

I took a leftover sign from my backpack and placed it on the tree. "Here lies Squirt, a good friend," it read. There were no other words needed.

The sun was coming up now, and the pleasant aroma of burning monsters filled our noses. Once the sunlight reached the tree, a yellow flower grew from the spot that Claire dug the hole, and we all smiled.

"Come on," I said. "Let's go cut down the house."

~(|)~

We followed the purple spattery trail for a while. I thought it was going to lead to our house, but once it got close to the forest, it veered off to the right, into a large field with small trees dotting it. I passed a tree, and there was a large spider clinging to it. The same spider that I met one of my first days here. How did I know? His two center eyes, for whatever reason, were green and blue, respectively.

Mr. Spider jumped off of the tree and scuttled away in the same direction as the trail, so we followed him.

The meadow smelled like flowers and wool, and we couldn't help but smile, even Sploosh, whose face had been a frown for a long time after Squirt's strange death. Why had he turned into a flash of green light instead of disappearing into smoke? Was that how all humans died here?

I was thinking about it so hard that I almost fell into an enormous crack in the ground.

"Woah!" Claire cried. "A ravine?"

The trail was going straight down the steep edge. If we simply jumped down, we would become a lump of splinters and spinal cords when we reached the bottom.

"We could dig down," I suggested. "Like, dig directly where we're standing..."

"Not the best idea," Claire replied, scratching the back of her neck. "We don't know what's below us, we could fa-"

"Got any better ideas, Ms. Safety?"

"...N-no," she squeaked after my sudden outburst.

"Alright then," I said sternly, getting a barely used stone shovel out of my bag. I stood over the edge of the ravine and began to dig below me, blocks of dirt flying into my inventory. Claire and Shadow followed, but Rex stood over the edge patiently, waiting for us to reach the bottom.

Everything was going well until Claire's row of stone blocks suddenly ended, about ten blocks from the bottom. She almost seemed suspended in the air for a moment, like a cartoon character walking off a cliff, then she hit the stone with a cringe-worthy _"Crack!"_

It was then that she let out a loud scream, and Shadow and I both dug as fast as we could to get to her. What if she hurt her head? Sure, she was being a huge brat right now, but she was my cousin, for crying out loud.

We both got to her at the same time. She groaned, and tried to sit up, which, luckily, she did successfully. "I'm alright," she mumbled. "I just need bit of food, then I'll be fine."

I handed her a piece of chicken from my backpack, and once she ate it, she stood up and cracked her knuckles.

"Thanks," she said. "Let's get going."

The purple trail was leading into the dark end of the ravine, disappearing into the shadows. Suddenly, going back for all of the iron on the walls seemed very appealing...

I heard a bark behind me, so I turned around to see Rex sitting behind me. How the heck did he get down here? No matter, I guess. Feeling nervous, I reached for my sword, and ended up sticking half of my arm into Sploosh, who was resting inside my open main pocket. He responded by letting out a telepathic yelp then leaping out of my bag and onto the stone floor, where he splattered onto some coal, then reformed, like those toy eggs you can throw at a wall.

I laughed and unsheathed Silverdart. Claire took out her bow and Shadow grabbed a red splash potion.

Once we were walking into the darkness, I took out a torch and tried to place it onto the wall. Surprisingly, it popped right off and flew back into my bag. I turned to look at Claire, the minecraft Know-it-All, but she shrugged and gave me a just-keep-on-walking look.

Soon, we couldn't see each other's faces, and I began to get scared, grabbing on to... something. A loud "Ouch!" proved that it was Shadow's head, and I let go feverishly, both of us extremely embarrassed.

Something cold wrapped around my leg, but it turned out to be Sploosh. I took the baby slime and plopped him into my backpack. He was too young to fight the possible monsters that could be lurking here. So far, we were lucky.

Until somebody screamed.

We all jumped at least ten feet, then whoever it was screamed again. There was light in the distance, and we broke into a sprint, Rex's glowing red eyes lighting the way like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but a lot creepier.

The light turned out to be lava, giving the area a warm orange glow. I could hear a faint clacking. Skeletons?

We turned the corner, and turns out, we were right. But the scene we saw was rather odd.

A group of at least eight skeletons were crowded around a girl that was pinned to the wall with what looked like spider silk. They were cheering on an old, rotted looking skeleton in the middle that was mostly purple.

Purple? Was he... infected with the End disease?

Anyway, this ill skeleton was sitting atop a large spider. A large spider with two differently colored eyes. One blue, one green.

I couldn't believe it. Mr. Spider, the once friendly looking arachnid, actually evil?

The old skeleton took out a bow and fired it at the girl. However, the disease must have reduced him to a delirious state, because his aim sucked and the arrow whizzed over her head and landed in a block of stone five feet above her.

She began to yell again. "Unhand me, you rectal orifices!" she screamed, shaking her head back and forth. Her dirty blond hair fell into her eyes.

The group of skeletons began to laugh, their loose jawbones rattling. The one riding Mr. Spider, who I assumed was the leader, walked up to her and replied, in a slurred drawl, "Why don't you keep your mouth shut, Missy? It's distracting me."

She gritted her teeth and spat in his face. "And why don't YOU go engage yourself in egoistic carnal knowledge?" I didn't get it, but Claire, being older than me, had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. How old was this girl?

"Says the girl named after a disease!" the leader rasped.

"I'll have you know, my full name is Mellifluousness, a word that means sweetly-sounding, or smoothly flowing."

"Does it look like I care, you little squid?"

"Troglodyte!" the girl fired back.

"Zombie droppings!"

"Nincompoop!"

"Cobblestoner!"

"Cognitively challenged bottom feeding troll!"

"Oooooooh," the skeleton slumped down in mock defeat. "I believe you win, you lava-spitting block of dirt. But you're still doing to die." he pulled his bow back, and it looked like he was going to hit his target this time, so I nudged Shadow, and he threw his potion as hard as he could.

The potion exploded right in the middle of the skeleton cult, and they all cried out in pain as the essence inside it burned their bodies. The girl, who I think was named Melli... something, wasn't harmed, because it was a healing potion. Healing potions, Shadow told me once, had the opposite effect on monsters as they do humans, so the girl was healed, but the monsters were hurt.

They all looked around frantically, looking for whatever attacked them. I gave the girl the thumbs-up from around the wall, and she grinned. Rex couldn't hold back any longer; he charged headfirst into the bone monsters, ripping apart everything made of calcium he could get his teeth around. I set my backpack down on the ground and followed, slashing at skeletons with Silverdart, while Sploosh stayed inside the bag.

Claire stayed behind the corner, occasionally peeking around it to snipe a skeleton in the skull, cracking it open. Shadow chucked every red potion he had, even though he had only three, but it still helped.

However, there were still too many of them, and they began to crowd around us. I cringed as one of them began to corner me, his (or her) bow ready...

Suddenly, he (or she) yelled in pain as something surrounded their head, suffocating them. I laughed out loud as I realized it was Sploosh, realizing his master was in trouble.

_"I'll save you, master!"_ Sploosh cried as the skull began to dissolve inside him. He jumped off as the headless pile of bones tumbled to the ground, and he sprang at another one, this time surrounding its ribcage.

Soon, all of the skeletons except the leader were piles of bones being chewed on by Rex. For whatever reason, the leader didn't seem too sad about the loss of his little buddies, but he did seem to be weaker. He was almost completely purple now, and when Mr. Spider walked forward, his bones shook loosely, like he would fall apart at the slightest touch.

Claire was out of arrows, and Shadow was completely out of red potions, so I was pretty much screwed as he readied his arrow. _Please miss please miss please miss..._

The arrow hit my sleeve, pinning me to the wall, and the lava right next to me stung my eyes and made me sweat, but I began to sweat even harder when the skeleton leader walked towards me.

"You've caused enough trouble as it is, You," he croaked, his voice like a sword scraping over stone. Mr. Spider tied me to the wall with his silk, giving me what was probably an evil leer.

"C'mon, Mr. Spider," I pleaded. "Don't you remember me? That one girl who didn't cut down your tree?"

"The darkness corrupts his mind," the skeleton croaked. "Darkness makes spiders aggressive, especially the Spider Prince. You killed his mother, he wants revenge!"

His mother... did he mean the giant spider with the silver bands around its legs?

Mr. Spid- I mean, the Spider Prince, reared up and grabbed my arms with his legs. He let out a smelly hiss, then his mandibles got closer to my neck... closer...

Suddenly, he looked at my necklace, and let out a loud scream, recoiling in fear. The purple skeleton fell off of his back, then stood up on fragile femurs.

"Your necklace!" he spat. "It is an Ender pearl, is it not?"

"Why do you-" I was about to retort, when he grabbed it and snapped the chain clean in two off of my neck, hurling it over his shoulder.

I grinned.

There was a loud "WHOOOOSH!" as I teleported behind the skeleton, and kicked him hard in the back, sending him toppling into the lava. He didn't even let out so much as a startled yelp as he burned to death.

The Spider Prince screeched and crawled up the wall and into the shadows. This time, I let him go.

I fell to my knees, panting and wiping the sweat from my brow. Rex stood up from the other corner and licked my face, and I patted him.

"Hey! I exist too, you know!"

We all looked up at the girl, who was still stuck to the wall by spider silk. I stood up and slashed the sticky string off of her limbs with my sword, and she fell to the ground.

"Ugh... I give you my thanks, Travelers," she groaned, taking a lump of silk and wrapping it around her dirty blond hair, forming a rugged ponytail. "You saved my life."

"No problem, Miss," I replied, dusting the bone dust off of my shirt. "What's your name?"

"Me? I am named Melissa, but I forbid you from calling me by that name. I am to be titled Mellifluousness, a word that means sweet-sounding, or smoothly flowing."

Shadow, Claire and I all looked at each other. "Er," I said after a moment. "Can you... shorten that?"

"Oh, very well, you may call me Flu, if you wish," replied Flu. "May I ask permission to accompany you on your travels? I am not an expert with swordplay, and I do believe I will perish in this extreme environment if I am by myself any longer."

Claire stepped forward. "I'm down with that. How about you guys?"

"Sure."

"Alright."

"Excellent," Flu clasped her hands together. "I am sure we will make an astounding adventuring group. Oh, yes, what are you three named?"

"I'm Adeline," I replied as Sploosh slithered back into my backpack, probably to eat my mushrooms. "The girl with the colorful hair is Claire, and that guy is Shadow."

"...and Shadow," Flu echoed. "I feel there is more to you than that, Mr. Shadow, but you do not need to explain."

...What? Anyway...

Claire scratched the back of her neck and asked, "Do you know how you got here?"

"Hmm," the small girl answered. "I think I was on Earth, on my computer, playing this game. Suddenly, I was absorbed into this land. I am unsure why, though."

"So you know about Minecraft?"

"Oh, yes," she replied. "Skeletons were my favorite creature, I created a farm so I could study their artificial intelligence. However, I think my taste for them has changed."

We all nodded in agreement. "Come on, everybody," I said, beginning to walk out of the cave. "Let's go mine some iron."

~(|)~

"Good afternoon Middleville, I'm Shiela Fairbanks, and I'm here with some strange news." The usually smiling newslady was serious this time as she was being recorded in front of the hospital. "Do any of you frequent watchers remember the news about the two girls that had strange things happen to them in front of your computers? Well, it's happened again, and this time, it's all over."

An ambulance rushed by, sirens blaring. "Children and teens all over the country have been collapsing in front of their computers, with strange things on the screens, be it flashes of purple, a large black dragon, or two violet rectangles side-by-side. Most of these victims are comatose, only one victim was reported missing, she has yet to be found.

"Yesterday, a small boy named Nicholas Cronkreight was reported dead at around three in the morning, with puncture wounds to his hands, feet, and chest. Doctors and scientists are still trying to figure out these strange injuries, but when we find out, I'll be here to tell you. Good night, Middleville."

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><p>*sniffle* Th-there you go, guys, what I did over Sp-Spring Break. Ugh, I'm sorry. I'm an emotional girl. ANYWAY, be sure to check out my DeviantArt page, TheMinersDestiny, and submit new character entries! You may enter as many as you want. I would like to suggest males, because I've only had about three.<p>

Now, for questions!

**To the Doctor: WHY THE HECK DO YOU WANT TO KILL ADELINE YOU MONSTER! YOU'VE DONE BASICALLY NOTHING YOU GREEDY MONSTER. I BET YOUR A CREEPER IN DISGUISE!**

Doctor- o_o P-please don't hurt me... *mumbles something about money*

**To Mr. Spider: How does it feel to be..."popular?"**

Mr. Spider- It feels... interesting.

**To Sploosh: You said you didn't like being hugged tightly. Are you sure Squirt heard you right?**

Sploosh- Um, I don't mind if it's Squirt... or Adeline, but Claire just scares me.

**To Notch: What do you think of people thinking that your brother is evil?**

Notch- I personally think it's hilarious. Herobrine, on the other hand...

**To Mr. Spider: Will you become an incredibly important character later? You WILL? Good for you!**

Mr. Spider- You just wait and see ;)

**To the Villager: Why did you attemp to intimidate them earlier? Cause it seemed like that's what you were doing.**

Villager- It's not my fault I look intimidating! D:

**To Notch AND Herobrine: Wait... Notch, if you made all the places and Herobrine made all the creatures... Who made the End, and the Endermen? And if your gods, couldn't you just basically nuke the End to kill the dragon? Or, like, send a 1000 ghast-mounted skeletons to kill it?**

Notch- I'll answer for us both, because Herobrine is, er, busy. It's not like that... the Enderdragon is very powerful, and we don't wish to start a war.

**To the Zombie Pigman: Why was everyone scared? Your passive, aren't you?**

Zombie Pigman- BLAAARGH! I AM NATURALLY SCARY!

**To the Ghasts: Y U EMO, BROS?**

Ghasts- Y U RUDE, BRO?

**To SPLOOSH (Not Splooge XD but I lol'd): Go fap a wall, like you slimes love to do so much.**

Sploosh- ...wut? (Is innocent)

**To Squirt: You don't amuse me. AMUSE ME, MONKEY.**

Squirt- Ah! ...uh... *juggles pickaxes* There!

**To Claire: How big does someones... chest... have to be to accomidate a slime, even if it's a tiny one? I mean, in-game, they're like, the size of your HEAD!**

Claire- *wink wink* ;)

**To Adeline (Yep, you spelled it right :D): I dare you to just start throwing your ender pearl all willy-nilly and teleport everywhere.**

Adeline- CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! :D

**To Rex: Get that cat! Get it!**

Rex- Well Flippers is sort of dead so I can't get her but if she were still alive then I would.

**To Flippers: How do you feel about being a part of the new team?**

Flippers- It felt great, until I died.

**To Flippers: Which of the three cat designs are you? And are you a boy or a girl?**

Flippers- I am a siamese, and I am a girl. Thank you for asking.

Phew! I finally figured out how to mess with the doc manager so I can post the answers. Keep asking, guys!

See ya later! :3

~FMF


	12. At Least It's Not Appendicitis

Hello, my fans! :D After a long wait, Chapter 12 is finally out! It would've come sooner, but I put off planning it for a while. Sorry it's so short. Also, there is one swear word in this chapter, but it's a mild one. I'm sorry if it's offensive to anybody (I can't imagine why it would be, though XD) Just a reminder, my DeviantART account, TheMinersDestiny, is up! Feel free to make an account (It's free!) just to comment on my stuff, it'll make me feel so much more popular ^^

I now announce the next winner! It is... Curtisimo's character Willheim! Congratz! I'm only going to pick one more, so cross your fingers. I don't need any more entries now.

Hey hey! My little brother (Whom Cameron is based off of) made an account, named Pignitus! He has a story called A Minecraft Legend, and I strongly advise you to review it. :3 It would make his day.

Replies to Reviews!

Frozenshadow74: Thank you! :D

Mellifluousness: Oh, stop it, you. ^w^

tristanas1: Hooray for the 100th reviewer! Thanks! ...I think.

Kyanite Archer: Yup. Squirt wasn't really going to be able to do much, anyway. Just sit around and be cute.

Zeren: They'll never know ;)

xoxLEXIxox: I almost forgot your review! Noes! You and Flu are probably my best friends on this site, I'll have to say :D You two are just so nice!

Superwuppy: It took lots of Kleenex. :D

jetray790: Welcome back, Jet! :3 I missed you! Also, thanks XD

allyofkatniss: ;) Shadow's lips are sealed.

Beaglegreen: Ahahaha XD

i forgot: I thought it said "his spiders turn him on" first time I read it. Oops! XD

Now for the chapter!

* * *

><p>Chapter 12: At Least it's Not App<strong>END<strong>icitis

"I think I'm a hundred pounds heavier."

"Adeline, you're being ridiculous. Put the armor on, then we can go into the mineshaft."

I sighed as the iron armor clanged around my body, which was rather thin, so the large chestplate I had crafted didn't fit very well. The helmet and the boots, however, were perfect, and once I slipped some pieces of leather inside them, they were actually very comfy.

Because Claire was an archer, she had to wear leather everything because she would be moving around, and she had to be fast if monsters attacked her. Shadow, the one arguing with me, insisted that he didn't need any, and Flu only made herself a helmet and said she was fine with just that.

I made Rex an iron collar, which took forever, because I had to use my iron shovel and the furnace to bang it into a round shape. He seemed to like it, though, because he was currently examining his reflection in a small waterfall trickling from the ground above the ravine.

Right now, we were getting ready to head into what looked like an abandoned mineshaft, which was why we needed armor. However, our bags were rather empty, and we needed to get more food and eat before we headed in. Sploosh had eaten all of the mushrooms, but that was okay, because that was all he ate. Claire had eaten a small apple, and Shadow and Flu split the last piece of beef. Because I was the main fighter, I was waiting for something to fall from the sky...

CLONK!

A chicken fell from the meadow, landing on its side. What luck. I gave it a quick slit in the neck with Squirt's knife, which I kept in my jeans pocket now, for safety and to remember him by, and it disappeared, leaving behind one whole chicken.  
>Being the impatient teenager (It feels so weird to say that now) I was, I chomped down a drumstick and a thigh without getting the furnace back out of Claire's bag first. It tasted alright, just like cold chicken.<p>

Until a few seconds later.

Pain punched my stomach, making me grunt in surprise and double over. The world spun, and four Splooshes peered over at me, their eyes concerned for their master. I groaned as Claire hunched down, and gave me one of Shadow's potions, which I drank. It tasted like a pond that a zombie died in, but once it was swallowed, the four Splooshes turned into one, and I felt the color return to my skin.

"Ugh," I groaned, feeling hungrier than ever. Turns out I had a stale loaf of bread in my backpack the whole time, and I facepalmed as I bit into it.

"You ready?" Shadow asked after I was finished. Once I placed Sploosh into my backpack, and took my pickaxe into my hand, we made our way into the mineshaft, torches lighting the way.

Because of the recent battle with the skeleton tribe (Which I'm going to put in the Boss Battle section of my memories, along with the Spider Queen), I had lost my Ender Pearl necklace due to the leader ripping it off my neck, then me using it to teleport behind him and defeat the diseased skeleton once and for all. I was sad about it, but it's just a thing, I guess...

Anyway, there were wooden blocks already placed in this mineshaft by unknown means, and what looked like cobwebs dotted the corners with their sticky threads. I tore through them with my sword, and Flu lit the walls with torches as Claire and Shadow trailed behind, watching for monsters.

The wooden path led to a large cave, where it then acted as a bridge. A pool of lava covered about a quarter of the stone room, and the walls were crawling with various ores, mostly iron and coal. Some teenage girls squeal over new nail polish, some squeal over the new, cute boy band, but me? I squeal over iron and coal ore.

I probably would not rank high on Earth's social pyramid.

Anyway, we all headed in different directions; Me going to the north corner to mine the iron, Claire heading south to shovel out the gravel for her arrows, Shadow gathering some lava with one of his buckets, and Flu digging in the remaining corner for some coal. Sploosh and Rex remained on the bridge, but soon the little slime wandered away to look for mushrooms.

After the last block of iron was mined away, I removed my helmet to wipe the sweat off my forehead. Mining was hard work, and the heat coming from the lava wasn't helping. Suddenly, I saw a glimmer in the hole that the iron was from.

Gold!

I eagerly chipped away at the shimmery yellow mineral, putting up a torch because I had made a large hole. I opened my backpack to look at all of the ores I had. Ten blocks of iron, five blocks of gold, twenty chunks of coal, and three-  
>Diamonds?<p>

Where were my diamonds?

I huffed under my breath. They must have fallen out, or Sploosh may have eaten them on accident. I turned around and flinched when I saw Shadow standing right in front of me.

"How much gold did you get?" he asked, but his face held no expression, so I couldn't tell if he was mad or not.

"Five," I replied. "Why?"

"Um, can I... have them?" Shadow replied, now his face was a mix between worried, and... maybe a little scared. I couldn't tell. "I... need them for something. Gold tools are flimsy anyway."

"Oh - uh, sure," I answered, handing him the blocks. His hand touched mine softly as the minimized blocks fell into his hand, and I looked away. There was an awkward silence, then he huffed and walked away, gold blocks now on his toolbelt.

I stood there for a moment, head slightly tilted, then I walked back up onto the bridge, where Rex was. "Hey boy," I said, kneeling down and patting his head. "You alright?"

Rex barked and wagged his tail, brown eyes sparkling. Come to think of it, I've never seen the little wolf be anything but happy, or hungry (for food and for battle). I wonder if he's ever felt sadness before.

Not that I wanted him to.

Anyway, I gave Rex one last pat on the back, then I got up (which is hard to do in iron armor) and walked over to Flu, who was counting the coal in her green, Adventure Time-esque backpack.

"How's it going over here?" I asked, standing next to her. I felt tall next to her slim, slightly short figure.

"Splendid," Flu replied, re-clasping the flap on her bag. "I do believe we have enough coal to survive a few more nights." Man, was she overly dramatic.

"I do believe you're right!" I replied. "I found some gold too, but Shadow took it."

"And why is that?"

"I don't know. I had some diamonds too, but they're gone."

Flu made a check mark with her thumb and index finger, then put her chin in the middle. "Very peculiar, I think. Maybe he took the diamonds as well?"

Why would Shadow steal diamonds out of my backpack? Surely he would've found his own by now. "That could be true," I replied vaguely, toying with my helmet. "You finished here?"

"I am," Flu replied, straightening her backpack. Orange tee, purple jeans, bright green backpack. How did I not notice how weird - I mean, uniquely, she dressed? "Why don't you go alert the two lovebirds and we shall get going? I will walk ahead to make sure there are no monsters. I have food to keep me alive."

"Go ahead," I walked over to Claire and Shadow, and poked them in between the shoulder blades. "Hey you two, why don't we go back? You can make out back at the house."

"But we weren't-" Shadow was interrupted by me flicking his ear, and he moved onto the bridge in silence.

I felt a little bad for being harsh to Shadow, but I was jealous, I'll admit it. When girls get jealous, watch out.

Rex's toenails clicked on the wood as we stepped onto it. I didn't see Flu down the small, branched hall that we had mined when we came across this. She must have turned to the right or something, instead of going straight ahead.

"ADELINE!"

Flu's screams made us all jump. "ADELINE! HEEEELLP!"

"Where are you?" I shouted back, breaking into a clunky, armor-covered run. Her yells of fright were echoing all over the walls.

Rex barked down one of the path's branches. I looked around the corner.

Flu was attached to a giant spiderweb, almost ten blocks long and high. Her limbs were spread out snow-angel style, and her backpack lay on the floor, along with her sword.

"Flu!" I yelled. "I'll get you out!" She only whimpered in response.

I pulled out Silverdart and slashed through the web, but all it did was make gooey white strings stick to the shiny blade. After I pulled it out, the web sealed back up, like nothing happened.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath. This thing was tough.

Suddenly, something dripped onto my neck, but it wasn't blood.

Blood didn't burn like acid, did it?

I screamed and clutched my neck, feeling blood run down it from whatever burned through my skin. Claire ran over and examined it with her fingers.

Wait. Why were her fingers hairy?

Oh Crap Oh Crap Oh Crap Oh Crap... I slowly turned around. So did Claire and Shadow.

At least fifteen dark blue spiders were clinging to the ceiling. One of them was dangling by a string, mandibles wide open, with its front legs clinging to my neck.

"GAH!" I stabbed the prowling spider (which was much smaller than a regular spider), and it fell from its string and died on the ground. That was the signal for all of the other ones to jump from the ceiling and hiss.

Claire sniped two or three before they reached the ground, but that wasn't enough to stop them from running straight at us.  
>Rex ran at the spiders and began ripping legs off of the nearest one, but he was soon outnumbered. This was the first time I've ever seen my dear wolf at a disadvantage. Fearing for my pet's life, I charged in too and hacked at the monsters. One of them tried to sink its teeth into my chest, but it was covered in armor, so I wasn't hit.<p>

However, green liquid seeped through its sharp fangs, burning through the iron and leaving two small holes. For that, it was stabbed. You should know better than to ruin a woman's outfit.

Anyway, Shadow ran backwards and threw a potion full of dark maroon liquid at the swarm, and they screeched as the stuff burned the hair off of their backs - and the skin that held it.

I gagged as the smell of burning spider filled the cave. Sploosh seemed to like it, because he jumped out of my backpack and began to cover a spider's head with his body. I couldn't tell if the cave spider died of suffocation or digestion first, but either way, one down, around six more to go.

Where was Claire? Oh, there she is - putting torches around a weird burning cage. It looked like the one inside the spider dungeon, where we fought the Spider Queen (or Mr. Spider's mother). Did that block the spiders from spawning from it? I guess so.

I tossed one of the last porkchops to Rex, who had begun to slow down. As soon as the meat went down his esophagus, the wolf was back up like he had drank a gallon of Monster, and he went back to tearing up cave spiders.

Once there were at least three left, they all climbed up onto the giant web where Flu was being tied up. Claire killed one with an arrow, and it went tumbling down onto the floor, legs curling up and dark green blood hissing onto the floor.

The other ones seemed pissed off by that, though. One of them let out a vengeful shriek...

And bit Flu in the neck.

She let out a scream that rivaled the spiders themselves, and it scared the last two so bad they fell off the web, where I stabbed them in the underbelly. Flu was breathing hard now, tears doing down her face, which was turning the oddest shade of green.

I whipped out Squirt's knife, and unlike Silverdart, it tore through the web like it was a mere sand block. Flu fell to the floor, limp and clammy.

"Flu?" I whispered. "You still alive?"

"Ugh," she replied. "Your astounding illiteracy is only exceeded by your wanton ignorance."

"Uh-oh," I heard Claire mumble. "Thesaurus is back."

Despite Claire attempt at optimism, Flu began to breathe heavier, and Shadow quickly ran over and lifted her up, bridal style, like she was nothing. "We need to get her into a bed or something. Anybody have one with them?"

"I do," I replied, whipping one out of my backpack. "Let's close this room up and destroy the web."

Once I placed it, Shadow set Flu down on the bed and placed one of the sheets over her. Claire put a door down, and Sploosh bounced over to the sick girl and covered the top of her head with himself. It must have acted like a cold washcloth, because Flu let out a comforting sigh and closed her eyes.

"Shadow," Flu mumbled weakly. "I... I would like to speak with you in private. Claire, Adeline... exit the room, i-if you please."

I shrugged, and my cousin and I left the room. There was an awkward silence for a few moments.

"Do you ever wonder what life is like back home?" Claire asked suddenly. "Like, how our parents are doing, and our friends?"

"Sometimes," I answered. I didn't feel like telling Claire about the dream I had with Notch, where I saw a comatose me in a hospital room, being kept alive against the doctor's wishes. "My mom is probably really sad." Wow, what a vague answer.  
>As I sat and mentally slapped myself for saying something so dumb, we both heard a faint tapping noise behind us.<p>

"Wha...?"

A stone block broke. Then another.

Claire and I both screamed and clung to each other like two best friends at a scary movie.

It wasn't a mining zombie, nor was it a group of tiny creepers that explode one block at a time.

It was a person.

He seemed pretty shocked too, standing there with an iron pick and slightly singed clothing. I would be too, if I were a guy and came across two girls whilst mining.

"Oh, um..." he finally said after a moment of standing there. He seemed very uncomfortable. "...Hi?"

"Fell in some lava or something?" Unlike with Shadow, Claire wasn't at all flirty around this guy. Probably because she was, ahem, taken. "Your clothes don't look too good."

And they didn't. A red checkered farmer-style shirt with the top button missing, some scorched jeans, a weird golden circle strapped to his wrist by leather... if he got here the same way as all of the other humans did, he must have been here a while.

He seemed intent on not showing us the left side of his face. After a second, he gave a sarcastic, but nervous grin and answered, "Yeah. What gave it away?"

I chuckled, but Claire remained unfazed. "Let's get you into the base. You need some porkchops."

"Uh-" Without another word, Claire led him by the torn sleeve into the originally cobwebbed room.

"We got another one!" She exclaimed, like he was some kind of fish she had just snagged.

Shadow was stroking an unusually pale Flu's cheek soothingly. For a moment, he seemed unlike himself, not so mysterious or blunt. Almost caring.

He coughed, then stood up. "Hey. I'm Shadow."

The guy seemed more comfortable around another boy, but he was still a bit jumpy. "Will Curtisimo. Nice to meet ya'."

After a firm handshake and an adjustment of glasses, the guy was seated on a stone block close to Flu's bed.

"She's getting worse," Shadow explained after I asked how the poisoned girl was going. "Her face keeps getting whiter."

"I know just the thing," the guy, named Will, said suddenly. He rummaged through his inventory, a toolbelt like Shadow's, and took out an iron bucket full of white liquid. He gently tipped Flu's head back and poured the stuff into her mouth. Slowly, her eyes opened.

"Er, what was that?" I asked.

"I taste dairy product," Flu said faintly. "Have I been fed dairy product in the past five minutes?"

"Milk," Will replied. "It cures poison."

"Ah," Flu said, sitting up gingerly. "Wait - who might you be?"

"Will," he answered simply. "Just Will. I'm not anybody important."

"I am called Mellifluousness, a word that means sweetly sounding, or smoothly flowing." Flu replied with a proud look on her face.

"Oh... kay," Will said, scratching the back of his head. He examined the circular thing on his wrist. "It's about sunset. Assuming I can stay here for the night, we might want to go to bed." It must have been some sort of clock.

Claire seemed indifferent about him staying, but I piped up, "You can stay! Go ahead!" Now why did I do that? Stupid Adeline. Stupid. Now he'll think you like him.

Will gave me a funny look and pulled out a bed from his toolbelt, then placed it on the ground. He then threw us some blocks of wool after Claire said we didn't have any more beds.

I placed my bed in between Will and Claire's beds, then I got under the covers. Rex curled up on top of my feet, and Sploosh placed himself on top of my head.

Shadow destroyed some of the torches to darken the room, but not enough for monsters to spawn. Will removed his glasses, and I removed my armor. Claire's was pretty much part of her skin by now, but it did look pretty comfy.

As I began to fall asleep, I felt eyes burning into the back of my neck. Why was Will staring at me?

Did... did he think I was pretty?

* * *

><p>Awwww man :D Is this another romance, I smell? Well, it's my story, I should know, but anyway.<p>

I'll try to keep my chapters frequent. Sorry this took so long ;.;

Now for your questions! :D (So many of them o_o I hope you guys read these...)

**To Notch and/or Herobrine: Do you ever get any free time? If so, what do you do during that time?**

Notch- Of course! When Herobrine has spare time, he likes to make shapes out of cooling lava. He made me a beautiful obsidian mug for my 1057th birthday. When I have free time, I like to go to Earth and go into people's dreams. Don't ask.

**To Mr. Spider: WE LOVE YOU! Also what is your favorite food?**

Mr. Spider- Oh please, don't flatter me. Hmm... I think I like chicken the best.

**Dear everybody: I am so sorry for your loss of friends... may they rest in peace.**

Everybody- Thank you...

**To Adeline: I dare you to kick Shadow. In chapter 12. Right there. You know where. Then kick Claire. In the face. Then smash their empty noggins together and scream, "THIS... IS... SPARTA!"**

Adeline- Nah. I'm not the vengeful type.

**To Claire: Do you even wear a bra? D: That's just disturbing how you can fit a slime there!**

Claire- Sploosh isn't that big... (Visit my dA page for a diagram of his size)

**To Herobrine: I made you evil in my story. Lol u mad bro?**

Herobrine- Yes. I mad bro.

**To Enderdragon: Y U NO SHOW UP YET.**

Enderdragon- All in good time *evil cackle*

**To Sploosh: Do you have a family?**

Sploosh- I don't think so...

**To Rex: How do you feel about Sploosh?**

Rex- I like the small green block that moves because he is cute but he doesn't talk and that makes me feel like I am ignored and I don't like to be ignored. :(

**To Claire's computer: How do you feel after sucking your owner and her cousin? Did they fill up your hard drive?**

Claire's Computer- I FEEL INDIFFERENT. I AM A HEARTLESS MACHINE.

**To Shadow: Will you meet Sonic? TROLOLOLOLOLO-**

Shadow- ...I don't get it. Stop laughing, Adeline, I don't see what's so funny.

**To Spider Prince: How does it feel to be royalty?**

Spider Prince- Call me Mr. Spider. Anyway, it doesn't feel too different, seeing as how I'm pretty much a loner now.

**To Claire: If you're so awesome with redstone go make something with it. I bet you don't even know what a XOR gate does!**

Claire- ...a what? owo

**To Adeline: Now that you have technically two pets (Sploosh and Rex) which one do you like most?**

Adeline- I can't answer that! D:

**To Squirt: Will you respawn? ;(**

Squirt- No... I don't think so.

**To Shadow: Are you an Enderman? Are you even human?**

Shadow- Yeah... o_O I mean, I'm human.

**To Claire: You remind me of Katniss with that bow, you are my favorite :D Also what do you think of Adeline? Do you hate her or what?**

Claire- Finally, someone that likes me! Also, I love Adeline like a sister, but I guess she's pretty sensitive.

**To Shadow: Did you know that Adeline has a crush on you even if she doesn't want to admit it? How do you feel about this?**

Shadow- ...

**To Cameron: Are you going to try and play Minecraft to see what happened, or are you going to stay far, far away from Minecraftia?**

Cameron- I don't really know what's going on. I think I'll just go into my room, ponder life, and make houses out of toothpicks. Also play my PSP.

**To Flu: What was it like being under the captivity of the Spider Jockey?**

Flu- Absolutely horrid. They treated me like a block of dirt and always guffawed when I said something. Do I speak funny?

**To Sploosh: What does a dematerializing skeleton head feel like in your stomach?**

Sploosh- Um... tingly, I guess. Like a block of sand.

**To Shadow: How long did it take you to find diamonds, make a pickaxe, mine obsidian, get to the nether, then find a nether fortress, kill a blaze, get the blaze rod, then come back to the overworld and make a brewing stand?**

Shadow- ...I don't know what you're talking about.

**To Sploosh: What is your shape, at rest?(perfect cube, round etc.)**

Sploosh- I am a small cube, with slightly rounded edges.

**To Sploosh: Will you be my friend?**

Sploosh- Sure! :3

Phew. See all of you guys next chapter! :D

~FMF (Who hopefully isn't getting lazy.)


	13. One Less in Attendence

This chapter is REALLY short. Mostly because it's just a filler, but there's a lot of info inside here. 13 must be my unlucky number, because I ran out of ideas so much through this.

EDIT: Shadow's name isn't actually Shadow Louis Styles. I was trying to play a joke on my friend, but I guess she didn't see what I did there. So... just call him Shadow :D

Replies to Reviews!

Mellifluousness: Long review is long. XD What pony reference might you be referring to?

xoxLEXIxox: Yep :) Mostly because you were, like, there since the beginning. And I'm staying classy B)

Kyanite Archer: Aww ^^ Glad I could make your weekend.

GothKat2SlashFan: You don't need to refresh... if you put the story on your alert list it'll let you know via email. :D

anon: Yay! You read my dA :D

Curtisimo: Glad you like how I write him :)

Lightoftime: You're not allowed to have a FF? Why? :c

Din0kid: Aw, thanks! :3

And now... Chapter 13.

* * *

><p>Chapter 13: One Less in Att<strong>END<strong>ence

Why am I in a kitchen?

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, looking around at the walls. The faint smell of chocolate floated through the air and relaxed my tense nerves.

"Good afternoon, Adeline."

I flinched as Notch greeted me from behind a stone counter. He was wearing his usual robe and fedora, and he seemed to be stirring something into a bucket of water sitting over a furnace.

"Hi Notch..." I replied, rubbing my head. "I'm dreaming again, right?"

"Yup," the Aether God poured the stuff into two white mugs, poured in some sugar and milk, and placed one in front of me. "Tea?"

"Uh, sure," I answered, to be polite. I sipped the drink slowly, enjoying a strange chocolatey, herbal taste. "What's in this?"

"Jungle sapling," Notch responded cheerfully. "The cocoa pods give it a nice sweet taste, doesn't it? Think I should put them in Minecraftia? The pods, I mean."

"...I guess so?" I had no idea what he was talking about.

Notch set down his mug. "So..." he began. "These people that have been showing up..."

"I don't know anything about them." I began to drain my tea.

"Neither do I. They seem to be coming from Earth, like you and Claire, but I don't know what's causing them to appear," Notch said. "Most of them end up dead. There are much more than the three that you've met."

"Yeah?" I drank the rest of my drink and set down my cup next to Notch's. "Does that mean Flu and Will are going to die too?"

"Flu... is a strange child," Notch replied. "Her reaction to the poison was odd. Cave spider poison usually causes great agony, and sometimes death, if the victim is weakened first. But Flu seemed to fall ill instead."

"And...?

"I'm thinking the poison might still be in her system, like a regular illness," Notch replied. "It could come back."

"Oh..." I replied sadly. "I hope that doesn't happen. "

There was a small silence. Then Notch added, "It seems that when they die, light comes out of them. It's... a different color, depending on their aura."

"Their... aura?"

"Sort of like the color of their soul. It's collected in a field, and only certain people can see or read them. Like me. I observed your first friend, what was his name?"

"Squirt..." I was still a bit sensitive about the topic.

"Er, yes. Squirt, well, I saw him die from my scrying cube, and his aura is a bright green, like his pet slime. Green usually means you are good with nature, and a really bright color means... you have a bright personality."

I remembered something when he said the nature part. "He did say once that monsters didn't attack him. That they just looked at him."

"That's probably the nature part," Noth replied. "Green is a fairly uncommon aura color, as most Earth humans are lazy and don't go outdoors much."

I wanted to object, but I knew better than to argue with a god. He could smite me or turn me into sand or something. "So... what's Flu's aura color?"

Notch grabbed a block of something cloudy off of the counter. He waved his hand over it, and an image of the ravine cave appeared. Everybody, including me, was in their bed sleeping. "Flu's aura is a pastel orange," he said. "Orange is less common than green, as it means you are eccentric and bubbly."

Like orange soda? Nevermind. "That makes sense. And, um... Will's?"

"A navy blue. That means you're quiet, but brave and loyal."

"Claire's?"  
>There was a slight pause. Notch examined Claire closely, as if it took a moment for her aura to appear. "A... uh... yellow. That means you are very optimistic and, er, happy."<p>

Huh. That didn't sound like Claire at all. Especially now. "Mine?"

"Ooh... yours is a very shiny gold."

"Is that good?" He said it like it was a rare piece of china.

"Extremely. It is the rarest aura," Of course; only fit for a girl that had to save the world. "And it means you are brave, honest, trustworthy, but a bit sensitive. Like a block of obsidian. Tough to crack, but very precious once you obtain it."

And very resistant to explosions, according to my book. I definitely wasn't. Anyway, best for last. "And... Shadow's?"

"Let's see..." Notch waved his hand, then frowned. He took his robe sleeve, and polished the glass. "He... doesn't appear to... have one!"

"Huh?"

"Very odd. Sometimes, after a person goes through emotional trauma or a big change, their aura disappears or becomes very faint."

The small picture changed. Some people started to shift, then Claire and Shadow woke up. They stretched, then talked for a moment. Claire got out of bed and began to tap me on the shoulder. I couldn't feel it here, though.

"You should probably go," Notch said. "It was nice talking to you."

"Mhm," I said back, feeling the world around me get blurry...

"Adeline!"

"Hunh?" I sat up, not feeling tired at all. "Oh, it's you."

Claire stood over me. "Shadow and I decided that we should go mining one last time before we head out and back to our house. You wanna go?"

Shadow looked at me, and I turned back to Claire. "No, not really."

"Alright," she shrugged. "We'll just head out then. See you guys later."

"Wait! Wait!" Flu bounded out of bed as if she hadn't been sleeping at all, and ran to the two. "Take me with you, if you please."

Shadow shrugged. "Fine with me."

"Okay. Let's go." Then they left.

That meant the only people left were me and Will. Right now, he was over in the corner, reading a book.

Wait a second.

"Hey! Is that mine?" I sat up and looked at him.

"Huh? It was in your backpack, yes." He seemed a lot more nervous now that everyone else was gone. From my bed, I noticed that one of his eyebrows was missing, and that he had lots of burn scars on the same side.

"But-" Then I stopped, and remembered what the book said.

~If this book is lost, return it to Will Curtisimo.

"You!" I said suddenly. "This is yours?"

"Yup!" he replied, almost proudly. "I got warped into Minecraft a long time ago, and I think I used to have a house where you do. Where your house is built, I mean."

"Why isn't it there now?"

"Creeper explosion," Will replied, flipping through the pages. "I patched up the crater and decided to start fresh somewhere else. The only thing I found after the explosion was my book.

"Hey..." he added, taking some paper out of his toolbelt. "I made some more pages while my book was lost. Wanna see?"

"Sure," I replied, taking the twenty-something pieces of paper from him. There were detailed sketches, and sometimes paintings, of various creatures. In short, slightly loopy handwriting was a bunch of facts about that particular creature.

I leafed through the pages, looking at the pictures of skeletons, slimes, a weird worm thing called a silverfish, then Endermen.

The top half of the Enderman page was a spectacular painting of three of the black monsters staring directly at the reader. Under it were sketches of Ender pearls, and drawings of Endermen with a pearl where a heart is on the human body.

I began to read it. "The Endermen were originally humans turned into monsters by the evil Enderdragon. Their heart was turned into an Ender pearl, and it can be removed at will for teleportation. The pearl is revealed when they die, and, although extremely painful, the pearl can be disconnected from the Ender body. I am unsure of why an Enderman would do this, though.

"A long time ago, parents would tell their children to be good, or the Enderdragon would turn them into Endermen and force them to do its bidding."

I set the page down. "How do you know all this?"

There was a pause before Will answered, "I visited a village once. The elder could speak any language, and he told me what he knew."

"How long ago was this?"

"I don't know... I lost my tally sheet. I'm thinking at least a year."

"So... you could have been the first one to be teleported into Minecraft!" I was shocked. This dude could hold the answer.

Or not.

"Maybe..." Will replied, folding his arms behind his head.

After a second, he got out of bed and put some porkchops into the furnace. It was then that Rex woke up and trotted in front of the furnace, waiting for some meat. I had no idea where Sploosh was.

"So..." Will said after a moment. "Tell me about yourself."

That took me by surprise. Nobody had EVER told me to do that before. "Well, uh... my full name is Adeline Emily Jones, and I live- I mean, lived... in Michigan."

"Where at?"

"A small town nobody's ever heard of," Rex jumped onto my lap and I stroked his back. "How about you?"

"I lived down in Arkansas," Will replied, going to the crafting table. He put the pages down, then the book, and he pulled out another book with all of the pages attached to it. "In Little Rock. I lived on a farm outside of the city and I was homeschooled."

"I went to a public school," I replied. "I really didn't have any friends. Everybody thought I was... weird."

"How so?"

"I really don't know. Maybe it was because I didn't talk to anyone?"

"Well, that's their fault," the farmboy answered, taking the porkchops. "They should have talked to you."

"It's not like they bullied me or anything," I added quickly. "They just... avoided me."

Will didn't say anything for a moment. "I'm sorry," he said finally.

"It's not your fault," I replied. "Videogames were pretty much my only friends. Ha... I swear the only reason I didn't go insane was my pikachu." When he raised the eyebrow that wasn't singed off, I said, "You know... Pokemon?"

"Never heard of it," he mumbled. He took a bite of pork, then said, "I got warped here in a library. My friend John told me about Minecraft, and I logged on to the public computers, and... stuff happened, and now here I am."

"My cousin showed me this game on her laptop."

Will chewed. "That sounds like it would cause a lot less panic."

I laughed. "Yeah..." there was a brief moment of silence, then I said, "So, what kinds of stuff did you do before you met us?"

"Not much," Will answered. "I almost got killed by a skeleton on my first night. There's a scar on my shoulder still..."

"What happened to your..." I made a motion.

"My face? Ha... Let's say I took a... swim."

"In lava?"

"Yeah," Will said. "I was mining, looking for diamonds. They're found a little bit above lava level, but... I wasn't looking where I was going. I fell in, but I had a bucket of water with me and I saved myself just in time. I couldn't see out of my left eye for days."

"Ouch..." I said, cringing at the thought.

"I almost died," he added. "I couldn't move for a long time, I was in so much pain. If I didn't have that piece of beef on my toolbelt, I would have starved."

"Sorry 'bout that..." I muttered, chewing on my pork. "Hey, can I see the book?"

He handed it to me, and I flipped through it until I reached a page titled, "The Nether." The whole page was a fantastic painting of the hell-dimension that Herobrine lived in; lava poured from a crack in a cliff, humongous ghasts floated through the air, tears going down their faces. A large fortress made out of a darker rock stood in the distance.

"You drew this?" I was stunned. I liked to draw, but not like this.

"Yeah... it's alright. Not my best work..." Will replied modestly, looking down at the floor. His face was as red as the netherrack.  
>"I disagree. This is really cool." I traced a lava waterfall with my finger. "Do you have any others?"<p>

"Oh, uh..." Will put his hands in his face. "There's, er, I have an Aether one... it's the second page f-from that one."

I skipped the next page, and there was another painting. It was a bunch of floating islands, the sky was a bright blue and a large building, like the fortress in the Nether but a bright gold, levitated in the background, with what looked like flying whales soaring around it.

"Cool..." I said, tilting my head. Will looked like he wanted to kill himself, and I tried really hard not to start laughing.  
>To his relief, Claire and Shadow came back, holding picks in one hand, and each other's hand in the other. Flu shuffled in a second later, looking a bit gloomy.<p>

"How was your trip?" I asked as I noticed Sploosh come in through the door. He had followed them out, the naughty little critter. I scooped him up and he mentally sighed contentedly.

"Let's see..." Claire opened her bag. "We got fifty-seven lumps of coal, fifteen blocks of iron, um... where'd the gold go- Oh, thanks Shady. Five blocks of gold, and a stack and a half of redstone powder."

"Nice!" I gave Claire a fistbump and didn't offer Shadow one. Flu sat on the bed farthest away from us and stared off into space.  
>"So..." Shadow said. "What did you three do while we were gone?"<p>

Three? Oh, he meant Rex. "Rex pretty much slept, and Will and I talked about our past and, er, read."

Claire slowly nodded, probably contemplating whether we were now madly in love or not. "Your past?"

"I mean, like... how we got here," I replied, feeling a bit stupid. "Introduced ourselves a little bit."

"Oh! I can do that!" Claire flipped her hair back. "My full name is Claire Kiersten Willows, I'm 14, and I used to live in Michigan... um... my favorite food is ramen and my favorite drink is Pepsi... I, uh, yeah. My laptop sucked me in, I guess."

Will adjusted his glasses. "Cool, uh, okay. Shadow?"

"Oh..." he looked up and blinked as if he were daydreaming. "Uhm... my name is Shadow... and I like, uh, brewing potions... and..."

"C'mon Shady, say something about before you got here!"

"Claire? He didn't come from Earth," I replied. Her head tilted to the side and Rex sat next to her, mimicking her action.

"Huh?"

"Adeline's right. I... don't really remember what happened before I met you guys." Shadow's eyes were glued to the floor. Like Will, he didn't like being the center of attention.

"Oh..." Claire said softly. I hoped that meant she wouldn't want to date him anymore, but I guess that wasn't true, because she hugged him and added, "I guess I'll have to tell you all about it!"

He grinned, but it seemed a little artificial. "If you say so."

"Okay! It's Flu's turn now!" Claire released Shadow and clapped her hands. "Wait... Flu?"

Flu's eyes rolled up into her head and she tipped forward. Shadow caught her head before it could hit the stone ground.

"Flu! You okay?" Claire poked her shoulder as if that would help her.

Suddenly, I remembered the dream with Notch. "I'm thinking the poison might still be in her system, like a regular illness. It could come back."

Oh no... was she poisoned again?

Flu's eyes fluttered open. "Oh..." her face paled, then turned the same odd green.

"I'm poisoned again... why do I... not have a surprised feeling...?" she groaned. "The ceiling's spinning..."

"Does she need more milk?" Will asked, about to grab some from his toolbelt.

"No need..." Flu rasped. "If you are a warrior, you prepare for this day..."

"Don't die, Flu..." Shadow moaned. Sploosh jumped up onto her shoulder and added, but only in my head, "I'll be sad...!"

The small girl shook her head, and her skin turned back to white. Her voice was barely a whisper now as she spoke in our ears, "I apologize, but... I must... beg your... leave..."

* * *

><p>Pig Latin! :D And please don't say what it says in English in the reviews please... let people figure it out for themselves. :)<p>

Now for the question! (I had to post this twice, because the friggin' web page expired, so you better read them even if you don't post questions.)

**Herobrine: How do you feel about Adeline and co.? Hate 'em, love 'em, want 'em to go fall off a particularly large cliff...?**

Herobrine- I'm okay with them, thank you. They're fun to stal- I mean... watch. Look over them... heh heh.

**Shadow: What are you doing with that gold...? :/**

Shadow- Nothing...

**Rex: Do you like the taste of monster? Do you prefer, say, spiders over zombies or something?**

Rex- I like skeletons because they are made out of bones but spiders taste good too.

**Will: How long have you been on the Overworld? How have you been doing on your own?**

Will- *points upward to Chapter 13 and the fourth wall shatters*

**Claire: Do all these people screaming at you make you feel any less confident about your relationship with Shadow? Do you think that the relationship will work out?**

Claire- I personally think it's funny. :)

**Cave Spider(s): Do humans/Minecrafters/whatever they are taste nice and do you encounter them often? What do you eat other than them?**

Cave Spider- Hisssssssss! Omnomnom! (Translation: Humans are delicious!)

**Notch: Same as Herobrine. How do you feel about Adeline and co.?**

Notch- I like them a lot. :)

**Enderdragon: I love you. You are far too awesome. Will you be my friend? :D**

Enderdragon- Certainly.

**Flu: How do you feel about hairy arachnids after your two horrendous incidents?**

Flu- I would have to say they are not my favorite.

**Adeline: Were you using a stone pick? If so, do please note that diamond can only be mined by iron/diamond picks.**

Adeline- Nope. Iron pick, I still don't know where they went.

**Shadow: Adeline still likes you and I'm still waiting for a response from this news...**

Shadow- ...

**Claire: Can I have your autograph? :D**

Claire- Sure! :D Here you go. (I'll put up their signatures on dA)

**Mr. Spider: Is there a special girl at home? ;D**

Mr. Spider- I'm still looking for my spider princess ;)

**Adeline: I DARE you. To do the gay tony dance. Next chapter. Please?**

Adeline- Huh? *looks it up* Oh. God no. I'm good. o_o

**Will: I AM YOUR FATHER. *Vader breaths***

Will- NOOOOOOOO! D:

**Mr. Spider: Do you have little spider babies?**

Mr. Spider- No, unfortunately.

**Adeline: Are you nuts to eat a raw piece of chicken? Cooking only takes like 8 seconds!**

Adeline- I was sort of starving to death, so my judgement was clouded. :D

**Claire: I'm surprised you didn't get the spiders to stop Ms. Oh-look-at-me-I'm-an-archer, I mean, can't you speak with your own kind. ;)**

Claire- Wh- *Gets the joke* FUUUUU-

**Shadow: So...how did it feel to be yelled at by Adeleine...don't act like you didn't deserve it...**

Shadow- She didn't really yell at me.

**Herobrine: Dude, you're just plain awesome! Any chance you can get those grievers off my server. Pleeeeeeeease! XD**

Herobrine- *smite* There ya go :D

**Rex: What was life like before you met Adeline?**

Rex- It wasn't too important but I don't want to go into detail because I'm not allowed too.

**Enderman/Endermen that take people inside Minecraft: Are you the same Enderman, or is that to be revealed in some dramatic way?**

Endermen- We are all different. Thank you for asking.

**Enderdragon: Do you get bored just flying around and waiting for someone awesome to come into the End only to get slayed?**

Enderdragon- I don't know what you're talking about.

**Zombie Pigman (in Overworld): Will you be a major part of Adeline's journey later on?**

Zombie Pigman- NOOO! I REFUSE TO TAKE PART IN SUCH PERILOUS ACTIVITIES SUCH AS SAVING THE WORLD!

**The sky: Are you an all-powerful being that can see everything that's going on all at once?**

The Sky- Yes.

**Adeline: What do you think about Will? Do you like him? Do you think he likes you?**

Adeline- Yes, yes, and y- Wait. Two yesses. The first one only as a friend right now.

**Shadow: WHAT IS YOUR PROJECT TELL ME OR DIE.**

Shadow- o_o *inch inch inch...*

**Sploosh: Hey, look! It's Squirt! *Points to a doll that looks just like squirt***

Sploosh- Hey! That was mean! :c

**Adeline: TELL SHADOW YOU LOVE HIM! HE WON'T KNOW UNLESS YOU TELL HIM! RAAAAAAA**

Adeline- No thanks...

**Rex: Want some steak? Huh? Huh? *Eats it* too bad. You can't have it.**

Rex- D: Why did you do that you know there are wolf puppies somewhere in a tundra starving!

**Shadow: Y U NO FLIRT WITH ADELINE! SHE"S PROBABLY HOTTER THAN CLAIRE!**

Shadow- I have a girlfriend. It's not polite to flirt with someone when you're taken.

**Mr. Spider: Why did you go all evil? You were the best before.**

Mr. Spider- I'm not the best anymore? :c

**To Notch / Herobrine: do you have any family besides one another? (AKA children, wives, mother, father ect.)**

Notch- Nope. Just me and my bro.

THERE. FINALLY. Keep posting questions and reviews, and I'll see you later! :D

~FMF (I promise the next chap will be longer.)


	14. A Blend of Emotions

Gaah! So much laziness! It doesn't feel like it's ben only a month, though, it feels like I've been lazy for a year! The beginning of chapters is sooo hard to write x-x

Okay! Before I answer your reviews, I have a survey that I would like you to answer in your review for this chapter! The questions are as follows:

Are there things in the story that you don't understand and need answering to? Like, mysterious things and you don't know what they're about? If so, what are they?

What parts of the story are you suspicious about? (Don't say Shadow's project, I already know that. ._.)

Who is your favorite character in the story and why?

In Chapter 13, you were reminded Shadow had never lived on Earth. Where do you think he came from and what do you think he's been doing?

And lastly: What would you like to have happen in the next few chapters? (Somewhat connected to the first question.)

So yes! Please answer those questions. And now, I announce a winner to the OC Contest! The winner is... Sea of Fire's Zoea Carters! Hooray! I pronounce her name Zoya, is that correct? n Unless it's supposed to be Zoey...

Alright. NOW for the Replies to Reviews!

Curtisimo: Mwahaha :D Lock your bedroom window before you go to sleep. KIDDING. I'M JUST KIDDING. o_o

Mellifluousness: Sorry bro, I should've asked you first :c And y u associate the Enderdragon as being male? The ruler of darkness may quite possible be a WOMAN. :3 That's not a spoiler. Nope.

SparkYoshi: Thank you! :D

Kyanite Archer: You can say way, lay, or any kind of ay. It doesn't really matter. The more to confuse people with :3

Stickbug11: Yes, I would kill her off :D

ScintillatingSaphirre (Cool name btw): Oh dear. Someone doesn't like Claire. FACT: I actually really like her. She's super nice and funny. (. .)

Din0kid: You sure are ._.

FreedomAngelKilljoy: Yes. Buckets and buckets. And maybe trucks. But I'm not sure yet.

Hi: Perhaps. I'm not too sure yet. (Or am I?)

MechanixAngel: Thank you! Your story is really good too! :3

HarryPotterEncyclopedia24: Thanks for giving me like 20 reviews XD

im not telling u my name: Sure! Here you go! :D

Vanochi: Aww! :D I don't wanna intrude on your sleep, but... if I must. And no, I'm not accepting characters. I think my favorite scene has not happened yet, because it's the ending. But you can draw a cover for the story if you'd like! :D They just added that now and my tablet hates me.

jetray790: ...I don't have other works o_o But glad to see you back!

Dylan: Thank you for giving me more reviews. I think.

RupeeofMadness: Hahaha XD And no, I don't mind.

Sacro: o_o Thank you! :D

Also, shoutout to ArgharnaMaleka for being the 200th reviewer! :D You guys are the best.

And now, chapter 14! Finally!

* * *

><p>Chapter 15: A Bl<strong>END<strong> of Emotions (If I didn't have to put **END **in every name, it would be called The Diamond Thief. Just sayin')

"Here lies Mellifluousness, the weirdest girl I'll ever meet."

I made sure the sign was firmly attached to the stone wall behind the bed that Flu had died in. My eyes were still blurry from tears and the orange light that Flu's aura was made of.

"You okay now?" Claire asked, her hand on my shoulder. Her bow was slung over her back, as we were packing up and getting ready to go back to our house. All of the beds were gone, except for Flu's of course. That one would stay as a little memorial.

"Yeah..." I answered, brushing off her hand and grabbing my backpack, which Sploosh had jumped in. The little slime, I realized, had grown a little since I first met him. Not by much, but if you looked closely, you would see that he was about two inches taller and wider.

Will took his book off of the stone block that substituted as his nightstand and put it on his toolbelt. "I'm ready too," he replied, nudging his glasses farther up his nose.

Rex wagged his tail in agreement, his iron collar wiggling loosely around his neck. He trotted to the door before we did, and I patted him on the head before opening it and heading into the main tunnel.

Will happened to have a leather strap on each hand: one for a clock, and one for a compass, which made it easy to go through the maze that was our mineshaft. A few times we had to go back and try another tunnel, so it took a long time for us to get back into the ravine.

By the time we finally got out, the sun was in the middle of the sky, and we had to use my strategy of climbing steep things: jumping and placing a block at the same time. It worked well, but at one point Claire fell from a ten-block pillar and got hurt, but she was alright after a few apples and she was back up in no time.

Once we made it to the top, we started walking immediately so we could get back to our house by the time the sun came down. The sun was beating down on us, and even though I didn't sweat, it was still pretty darn hot. Sploosh jumped out of my backpack and wrapped around my hair, and his cool squishy body protected me from the sun's heat.

When the forest our house was in was in sight, everyone started walking a bit faster, anxious to get out of the sun. Thanks to my incredibly attractive Sploosh cap (not), I was fine, and I trailed behind to make sure Rex was alright, because he was panting really hard.

If you were in our house watching us come back, you would see Shadow at the front, ignoring Claire's romantic jabbering, Will in the middle, looking over his shoulder at me, who was way behind, carrying a sleeping Rex, a black backpack, and a slime on my head. It was quite a sight, and a lot of hard work.

I almost expected air conditioning when we opened the door, but unfortunately, there's no air conditioning in Minecraft, so we had nothing. Will happened to have some snow blocks, however, from a visit to a tundra biome, so we all placed them on the floor and laid on them until they melted.

"This is a nice house!" Will complemented, looking around at the windows and the entrance to the Mineshaft. "What's down there?"

"Oh, just a mineshaft," I replied, placing Rex on my bed and peeling Sploosh off of my hair, laying him on my sheets. He kept his flat shape for a moment, and I was worried that he melted.

"Just kidding!" he said cheerfully, bouncing back into his usual cube formation. I laughed, feeling stupid for falling for the play-dead trick, and I sat down next to Rex.

"Is this a good place for my stuff?" Will asked, gesturing to an empty corner.

"That's fine," Shadow replied, moving his workbench and placing it next to his bed. Claire plopped down on her boyfriend's bed and put her chin in her hands, as if everything Shadow did was fascinating.

I growled under my breath, then looked up again as Will took a diamond pick out of the chest he placed down.  
>"If that's a mineshaft," he asked quietly, "Can we go mining? I need more iron."<p>

"A diamond pick?" Claire stood up. "We have obsidian down there, but we don't have any diamonds to mine it with. Would you-"

"Sure," he answered, opening the door to go into the mining area.

I was tempted to call Shadow out about the diamonds, because I still thought he had taken them, but if he didn't that would be quite an embarrassing scene. So I just kept my head down, lifted up my pick, and followed my friends.

The obsidian pool with the water and lava was the same as when we left it last. Even the sign that Claire wrote when she and Shadow ditched me was still there. Nobody had been down here in a while.

Will set to work, blocking off the lava with a spare block of cobblestone and beginning to mine the obsidian. Each block took at least ten seconds to break, and we were getting a little antsy just sitting there.

"Okay, I have an idea," Claire broke the awkward silence. "While Will mines the obsidian, we should all have a diamond mining contest."

"Like, whoever finds the most diamonds wins?" I asked.

"Yeah! Doesn't it sound like fun?"

Shadow pondered a bit, and I pulled my pick back out of my backpack. "Challenge accepted!" I yelled, raising it into the air then running off into one of the tunnels.

I heard Claire and Shadow run off, and I was pumped full of competitive spirit as I spun my pick around and started to walk again. According to Will's book, which had a full three pages on the diamond and where it was found, the shimmery mineral (Say that five times fast) was most commonly located just above where most lava was. And since there was a lava pool right there...

I came across the old lava pool that I had found my first diamonds in, and I dug a small tunnel into one of the walls. Once I had reached a comfortable length, I dug in a circle around me.

Aha! Diamonds! I almost drooled at the sight of the blue gems, which almost seemed to cast their own light...

Whoops. That was the torch in my hand, nevermind. There were only two though, and I mined them with great gusto. I wonder if Claire and Shadow have found any? If anything, they were probably working together.

I decided to go a little deeper. I remembered from science class back on Earth that diamonds were formed from heat and pressure. I was deep underground, but I wasn't being crushed... maybe it only applied to rocks?

Eventually, my pickaxe hit something big and dark with a loud "CLUNK!". I examined the block: dark, hard, and pretty much impossible to dig through. I ran through Will's encyclopedia in my head. Was this... bedrock? Yes, now that I remember, bedrock emitted small smoky particles, a barrier to keep wandering miners from falling into the Void.

Speaking of Void, I thought about what Herobrine had told me about a week ago for the first time. I hadn't really considered it until it was staring me in the face. Should I tell Claire and Shadow? Or should I just keep it a secret?

3 diamonds later, I decided to tell them once we got to the Nether. I wouldn't want them to go along not knowing until the Enderdragon bit them in the butt, and if they didn't believe it, then I guess I'd just have to go along with it myself.

I walked back up the staircase I had made to bedrock, back to the lava cave. Then, I turned and started to dig another tunnel.

CRACK!

My head flew into something and I fell. Something else did too.

"Hunh?" I rubbed a throbbing spot on the side of my head and looked up to see Shadow doing the same thing.

He stood up and offered a hand. "You alright?"

I took it and he helped me up. "I'll be fine. You?"

"Same. How many diamonds did you get?"

"Five."

"Great. I only got one, and Claire got two. I think you win." Shadow walked around me, then when he was behind me, he added, "I'm going to check up on Will, then go back to the house. Can you find Claire and tell her that?"

"Okay. Where do you think she is?"

"No idea. Look down our tunnel, she's probably near bedrock somewhere." Shadow walked away on that note, so I walked into the tunnel that he and Claire walked down.

They had done a lot more digging than I had, and I saw a lot of broken picks scattered on the ground, at least four. Five tunnels lined one side of the wall, and I heard digging from one.

"Claire?" I peeked down it. I couldn't even see the bottom, and my voice echoed down it.

A few seconds passed, then she replied, "Hey Adeline! Come down here, I found some lapis and tons of redstone!"

Jogging down the stairs took at least a full minute before I could see my cousin. She was all the way at bedrock, and had dug a huge square around her. Like she had said, there were two lapis blocks right in the middle.

"How many diamonds did you get?" Claire asked, swinging her pick at the blue splotched stone. The blocks exploded into four chunks of blue dust, which flew into her bag. "I got two."

"Uh..." I had forgotten, so I dug through the outside pocket that the diamonds had tucked themselves in.

...zero.

Okay, now I was mad. "I had five..." I mumbled. "But now they're gone?"

"Is there a hole in the pocket?"

"Nope. And the top's secured with velcro, so they couldn't have slipped out even if I dumped the bag over."

But the velcro WAS loose. Looser than I had secured it when I had gathered the diamonds.

And who was the first person I had seen after I found them?

Shadow.

"That ASSHOLE!" I shouted, making Claire jump.

"Chill, Adeline. Who would you be referring to?"

My eyes narrowed. "Shadow. He stole my diamonds, and he's done it before. Do you still have yours?"

She checked her bag. "I still have two. Are you sure they were stolen? And by my boyfriend?"

"I swear." I growled. "I am going to KILL HIM." Without another word, I swiveled around and steamed up the stairs. A stealer of hearts, AND diamonds! He's going to get it.

Will and Shadow had left, and the obsidian was out of the pool. Instead, it was in a four-by-five frame. This must be the Nether portal, but the middle wasn't lit up.

But I had more important things to do than study a portal. I ran up the stairs and flung the door open, making it bang against the wall.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" I yelled, making Rex sit up, fur raised.

Shadow was sitting at his workbench, Will watching. While Will looked a little shaken from my outburst, Shadow was unfazed. "I don't know what-"

"BULLCRAP!" My face was inches from his now, but I didn't care. A few days ago, I wouldn't have had the guts, but that was before he stole my diamonds twice! I breathed in, then lowered my voice. "Give 'em."

"Wh-"

"Diamonds. Mine. Fork over. Now."

Shadow blinked a few times. "You can check my chest and my toolbelt, I don't have your diamonds."

"Neither do I," Will piped up, looking very intimidated.

"Master?" Sploosh squeaked from a corner. "Please stop. You're being scary..."

I sat down and Sploosh jumped onto my lap. "I'm sorry," I mumbled. "But this is the second time it's happened. They don't just jump out of my backpack and walk away."

"Apology accepted," Shadow replied. Will just sat there looking pale.

That was when Claire came upstairs. "Found your diamonds yet?" She asked me rather loudly. The pick in her hand was snapped in two.

"No," I answered.

"I got some flint and steel, so we can light up the Nether portal and head in, if you'd like. Got everything you need?"

"That was fast," Will said. "Yeah, I think so."

I walked over to my chest and opened it, grabbing a few spare steaks and a bucket of water. Make that two.

"I'm all set," I said. Shadow nodded in agreement.

"Alrightie then!" Claire clapped her hands, making a still nervous Will jump again. "You taking Rex?"

The wolf barked, standing next to me. Sploosh jumped into my backpack.

"I guess they're coming with me," I shrugged. "Don't die, you guys."

"Never!" replied Sploosh. "I'm staying in here unless you say otherwise." He moved around in his pocket, trying to make himself comfortable. I think he was growing out of it.

Once he stopped moving, we all followed Claire downstairs into the mineshaft. It was eerily quiet, save for the faint trickling noise of the water.

Once we reached the frame, Claire took out a piece of flint and a moon-shaped piece of iron.

"Stand back, guys," she murmured, and we all stepped backward as she flicked the iron and flint together.

There was a spark, then a loud scream.

We all flinched. Something screamed again, but it came from the portal, which was now glowing a bright purple from the middle.

With all of the End things going on right now, anyone else think purple is a really creepy color?

"Okay, if that keeps making that noise," Will said over the screams. "I'm destroying this when we get back out."

"I'm okay with that," I answered, covering my ears. Rex pawed at his muzzle and whimpered.

"Alright, everyone ready?" Claire asked. "I'll go in first."

We all watched Claire walk through the portal and disappear. There was a moment of freak-out, then Shadow followed her.

"I'll go next," I offered to Will, who shrugged. Taking a deep breath, I took a step forward, and my eyesight was completely blanketed by purple mist. I felt a strange tingling feeling, then the Ender-pearl-like sensation of being ripped apart.

Then everything went violet.

~(|)~

Hot.

HOT!

HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!

When I stepped through, my face was immediately blasted by a burst of heat. It must have been at least a hundred degrees in this place.

I looked around, it looked exactly like Will's painting: dark red rock covered the majority of the area, lava covered the bottom, and some floating islands of netherrack and soulsand littered the scene. Waterfalls of molten rock cascaded from the chunks of land, and something dark loomed in the distance.

Will stepped out of the portal and stood next to me. "Pleasant, isn't it?" he asked, and I laughed.

Claire pointed out at the dark thing. "That's where we want to go."

"Why?" Will asked.

"Because... uh..." Claire hesitated. "To get blaze rods. And glowstone."

"For what?"

"To make... eyes of Ender?"

"For what?"

"To go to the End!"

"Why do you want to go there?"

There was an awkward silence. My eyes widened; did Claire know what I needed to do, or did she just want to go to the End?"

"Because... so... Adeline can save the world!"

She knows?

Shadow spoke first. "Adel-"

"Yeah, it's true," I said uncomfortably. "If you guys don't want to come along, then you can just s-"

"Woman!" Claire put her hands on her hips. "We are ALL coming with you! You're not saving no world all by yourself!"

I blushed, letting out a flattered grin. "Oh, you guys..."

"Okay, now that that's over," Will ruined the touching moment. "Let's head around the perimeter, and get to the fortress.

Rex barked, shuffling his paws like he couldn't step on the hot rock.

"Anyone have any leather?" I asked. "I want to make some booties for Rex, he's burning his paws off."

"I got three," Will replied, handing the cowskin to me.

"Here's one more," Claire added.

"Thanks." One crafting box later, and Rex had some new boots to safely walk the Nether in.

"Master?" Sploosh yelped from my backpack. "I'm melting!"

I took the little slime out, and he did seem a bit more liquidy than usual. "You better not be kidding this time," I told him.

"Okay, I'm not dying," he replied. "But it's hard to move."

"Then don't." I put him back, and we headed forward.

Some spots of netherrack were on fire, and sometimes the fire covered the whole path, and we had to drink Shadow's fire resistance potions to get across. The stuff tasted a little like peppers and a bit like tangerines, which didn't make any sense, but when we drank it, we could walk across fire like a boss and feel only a cool tickling sensation.

We were about halfway to the huge castle when we heard a grunt. In front of us was a tribe of zombie pigmen, walking around aimlessly with huge, ornate gold swords in their burning hands.

Will tensed, and was about to bring out his sword when I grabbed his arm. "They're not going to hurt you," I said. "Just ignore them."

The farmboy turned lava-red when I touched him, but he sheathed his sword and we calmly walked ahead. "Uh... pardon me?" I said to the swine people, but apparently, they didn't speak English. Pushing them aside gently seemed to anger them a little, so we went on our way before they flipped and tried to kill us.

Suddenly, once the zombie pigmen were out of sight, we heard the loud screech of a ghast. Wide eyed, everyone turned around.

The jellyfish creature was at least twenty feet tall, about as big as the ghasts I saw in the dream with Herobrine, and it was about ten times as fierce. Tears going down the tormented thing's face, it opened its eyes and mouth and released a huge fireball.

We all scattered, and the flaming projectile burst apart, sending pieces of hot shrapnel everywhere. One hit me in the cheek, and I hissed as searing pain burned into my face.

"Run!" I yelled, clutching my burn wound as we all sped towards the Nether fortress. Rex was the fastest, and he barked once he got to an entrance.

Little did the wolf know, there was something behind him.

"Rex!" Claire cried. "Get out of there!"

Rex turned around and yelped when he saw the humongous blaze towering at least fifteen fit over him. The wolf yelped and began to run, and the fire monster, a creepy smile on its gold face, began to prepare the rods spinning around it to attack.

I gasped, but the blaze wasn't aiming for the wolf. It launched several flaming rods at the ghast, which was right behind us, ready to kill. The blaze rods hit the ghast square in the face, and it screeched as the projectiles pierced its leathery skin.

We all stood back and watched the epic battle between floating Nether creatures take place.

The blaze was faster, but the ghast was more powerful. It prepared a fireball and shot it, but the fortress guardian dodged and the ball hit the fortress, bursting a wall open and revealing a room with a spawner in the middle, full of blazes. These blazes were only about five feet tall though, so the fifteen-foot tall one in front of us was probably around for a really long time.

Angry that the ghast has destroyed part of its home, the blaze fired several rods at the jellyfish, striking both of its eyes and going into its mouth. This seemed to do the trick; letting out a deafening roar/scream/sob, it began to swell up, glowing from the inside as it started to explode.

Before it did, it fired one last fireball. The blaze, basking in its glory, didn't notice it, and it hit it straight in the side.

We all gasped as the creature that saved us plummeted to the ground in front of the fortress, half of its immense core buried in the netherrack.

Claire ran to it, and the blaze opened the eye that wasn't in the ground, a painful expression on its face. Smoke billowed from its body, and once-floating blaze rods were on the ground. Golden blood was leaking from a long scratch across its right side.

"I know how to heal it."

We all looked up to see a girl we didn't know and a wolf walk towards us. "I've lived here for a while. Want some help?"

"Sure!" Claire answered. The girl's wolf and Rex began sniffing each other, hitting it off immediately.

"I'm Zoea," the girl announced, even though nobody asked. "Zoea Carters. You guys?"

"Adeline Jones," I replied.

"Claire Willows," my cousin answered.

"Will Curtisimo," Will said.

"Shadow," ...er, Shadow replied.

"Last name too!" Zoea said sternly.

"Um... that's too personal for me," Shadow mumbled. "I'd rather not.

"Alright then. I'll make one up," Zoea said. "How about... Donovan?"

"Wh- alright then." Shadow replied. "Shadow Donovan it is... yeah, that doesn't actually sound too bad."

"Then it's settled." Zoea said proudly, her shoulder-length brown braid flying upward as a hot breeze flew at us. "Come, Tala!"

Her wolf turned, then walked up to the girl and licked her hand.

"Good girl. Now... where are my ghast tears..."

Zoea rummaged through her brown backpack, which was smaller than mine and only had one strap, and found a small bottle filled with a silvery substance.

She uncorked the bottle and gently tilted it on the hurt blaze's scratch. It let out a snort as the scratch stopped bleeding and became only a long scar.

"So..." Claire said. "How about you guys go look for blaze rods, and I'll stay here and take care of this guy."

"Can't we just use these?" Zoea questioned, holding up one of the rods littered on the ground. The light coming from the now cooled rod turned her red halter top orange, clashing greatly with her navy skirt and black leggings.

"They're way too big," Claire answered. "And it just... doesn't feel right to heal someone then take his stuff."

"So the blaze is male now?"

"Why not? You guys go find the blaze spawner, and I'll stay here."

I didn't feel like correcting Claire and telling her the blaze spawner was in clear sight now, so I just walked through the entrance.

"Adeline!" Will called. "We could just stack blocks and climb up through here!"

"They'll see us," I replied. "Let's go through the fortress, it's more fun that way."

"I need netherwart too," Shadow agreed. "I'm running out for my potions. Let's just go through here."

Will shrugged, and I called Rex, who was still sniffing Tala. Reluctantly, the wolf trotted over, looking back at his new friend, who yipped and jumped up and down.

The clock and watch on Will's wrists were spinning rapidly in circles like something was glitching them up. I guess there's no time here, or direction. No direction doesn't make any sense though...

Anyway, we made our way to the entrance, and we were greeted by a huge labyrinth of nether brick and fire. We couldn't see the blaze chamber from where we were, and there were at least three different forks that we could take.

"I think we should stick together," Shadow suggested. "That way, if we get lost,"

"We'll all die together!" Zoea interrupted. "And nobody would find each other, because we'd all be dead! I'm going THIS way!" And without anybody protesting, she and Tala marched to the left. Rex followed them.

"Well..." Shadow said after a moment. "I'm going to look for netherwart first, so you and Will can go find the blaze spawner."

Once he had walked off, Will and I stood there for a minute, then began to walk into the center hallway.

He spoke first. "So.. the saving the world thing..."

"What about it?" I took out Silverdart in case any monsters showed up. The hallway was too small to fit an entire ghast, but maybe blazes roamed the whole fortress instead of one chamber.

"Well... what do you need to do? I didn't really get what Claire said."

"Okay, so, I need blaze rods and glowstone at the moment, so we can use the glowstone to make a portal to a place called the Aether," I explained. "According to Notch and Herobrine, who came to me in respective dreams, I need to go to some sort of dungeon, where people called Valkyries live. They'll tell me how to get to the End and defeat the Ender dragon." Man, I felt like such a Mary-Sue while I said that whole thing.

"Hmm..." Will said after a moment. "Let me check my book quick." He took out the encyclopedia and flipped to the page describing the Eye of Ender, still walking. "You need blaze rods to make these, and they'll lead you to a place called a stronghold, where the portal to the End is..."

"What's with the last part?"

"Oh, I wrote that down when I left the chest behind to scare people off in case I came back for it." He looked up and adjusted his glasses. "I guess it didn't work."

"Quit looking at me like that," I hissed. "It's freaking me out."

There was another fork in the path, so we mindlessly went left. "Sorry," he replied, blushing and looking away.

"So, I was wondering something..." Will changed the subject, "What's with you and Shadow? There's so much tension between you two, it's always awkward whenever we're all in the same room together."

"Oh, that..." I bit my lip. "Well, I saved his life, he was being attacked by monsters and I let him into my house, that's how we met, and... I sorta had a crush on him after that... but Claire got to him first. He tries to avoid me a lot now."

"Just curious, if he's avoiding you, does that mean he knows you like him?"

"Well, no-"

"Then why would he be avoiding you?"

Good question. I froze, my mouth still open, then I thought about it. Why WOULD he be avoiding me?

"I don't..." I answered. "I dunno..."

"Probably," Will analyzed. "Because he likes you back!"

...oh.

"He probably likes you, but he just realized it after he and Claire started 'dating', so he doesn't want to be around you, because he has mixed feelings and doesn't want to break anyone's heart."

"How do you know all this?" I questioned, one eyebrow raised. "Like, did you get all the girls when you lived in Arkansas and you learned all this romance stuff?"

"...Internet." he replied.

"Okay, well, if Shadow likes me now," I said. "Then he can go suck it, because I'm over him! If he's into girls like Claire and just now realized he likes me AFTER he got himself a girlfriend, then he's not worth it."

"Are you sure? Or are you just mad?"

"Oh, I'm pissed all right, but I'm still sure." I spat, jaw twitching. "But... now that I know this, I'm not sure what I should do..."

"Well, there's a second guy."

"Huh?"

"Me."

My eyes narrowed. "Are you... asking me out? As in... you like me?"

"Well..." Will replied, biting his lip. "Screw it. Yes. I like you, and I'm asking you out. Let's make Shadow jealous."

"Alright." I answered, grinning with vengeance. "Shadow's gunna be mad."

~(|)~

"Can you see her yet?"

"Nope. Still black. I can see a few gold ingots though."

"So the screen's not dead, it's just in a dark place."

"Yup. And- Oh! Light!"

"Just a little. Nope. Gone now. But I see some diamonds."

"Are we being made into jewelry or what?"

"I have no idea. Let's just wait, Duncan."

"Okay. Do I still have to sit here?"

"Yes. If you don't mind, I'm going to go see what she's roaring and screeching about. You can stay here, just like yesterday, and the day before that."

"I hate you, Darcy."

"Kisses to you too!"

* * *

><p>Hmm... mysterious! And if you think what Adeline did was rash andor unrealistic and/or stupid, I'll tell you now that I'm a middle school student and girls do that all the time to make guys jealous. :D And maybe she also likes him back a bit. Maybe.

Is it wierd that I know how this story will end, and the main plot for a possible sequel, but I don't know what I want to happen in the next chapter? Probably why I asked you those questions.

K. Questions! Or, answers to questions! I'm confusing myself ._.

**Rex: could you please explain the magical ability of dogs to teleport when you have a pressure plate for an auto-closing door, yet the dog somehow appears next to you inside anyway?**

Rex- That's a secret! :D

**Shadow: You go, tell Adeline how you feel, or i will teleport to you, rip your face off, and feed it to you. WITH A SPOON**

Shadow- No! Not with a spoon! D:

**Shadow: Everyone supports you and Adeline. Why do you still date Claire?**

Shadow- Because once you get to know her, she's... smart, and funny, and sweet, and... why does everyone ask me that?

**Shadow: You know that your new nickname means 'suspicious', right?**

Shadow- ...I never thought of it like that. o_o

**The Fourth Wall Repairman/woman: Do you ever get sick of your job?**

Repairman- OH NOTCH YES. SOMEONE FIRE ME.

**Enderdragon: What's your opinion on the fact that I made you NOT evil in my fanfiction but you're still going to die anyway? :D**

Enderdragon- I hate you.

**Claire: Yeah, you seemed caring *glares* you care only about yourself don't you!**

Claire- Wh- No! D:

**Claire: By now I'm about ready to rip out every rainbow strand of your hair and throw you into a deep, dark cave filled with creepers and lava. Then I will magically teleport down and hover above the lava that you will be dying in and laugh my head off at you. You are stupid. Maybe I wouldn't want all this stuff to happen if you would BREAK UP WITH SHADOW!**

Claire- Okay. Everybody just shut up about me and Shadow. Can't we just go out with each other in peace?

FMF- To be honest, I'd like that too D:

**Shadow: WHY ARE YOU WITH HER? Claire the idiot, I mean.**

Shadow- ._. Not this again.

**Shadow: Adeline likes you. I DARE YOU TO KISS HER. THAT OR TELL ME YOUR PROJECT. YOU HAVE THREE CHOICES NOW- Tell me your project, kiss Adeline, OR DIE.**

Shadow- I'm making stained glass. Didn't I already say that?

**Rex: Want a life-time supply of steak delivered to your door?**

Rex- Yes but I don't trust you so how will I know that you're going to give me some?

**Sploosh: HA! SQUIRT'S DEAD! D-E-A-D, DEAD!**

Sploosh- S-stop it! *sniff* You always bully me! :'c

**That diamond ore in the ground: Do you ever have the strange feeling that someone's gonna come out of nowhere and murder you with a pickaxe?**

Diamond- Now that I think about it, I d- OH GOD I'M BEING HACKED TO PIECESSSS

**The Spider Prince: Are you going to become unstopable with a bow, change your colour to white, where a creepy suit, start killing people, capture a Daisy_Duke, and try to make the whole world a desert? If so, AUTHOR! IF YOU NEED HELP, DON'T CALL US! We're busy enough as it is...**

Spider Prince- I see what you did there ;)

**Sploosh: Omg you're so cute! You're my favorite character! P.S. You don't talk very much, why is that? I'm sure Adeline would love to hear what you have to say.**

Sploosh- I'm glad I get some attention! :3 And I'm just a naturally quiet... slime.

**Shadow: Why are u all like ... when aswering questions that just makes me all like -_- then *insert rageface here* and if u say ... to answer this question i will play minecraft right now and get sucked into the comp and RIP OFF UR FACE.**

Shadow- Because I don't want to answer them?

**Claire: ****WTF BACK OFF ADELINE WAS HERE FIRST. GO KILL URSELF!**

Claire- ...Sorry?

**Rex: I hear there's a dimention made of steak.**

Rex- WHAT? WHAR?

**Mr. Spider: Y U NO BE NICE ANYMOR?**

Mr. Spider- I IS NICE! Y U NO UNDERSTAND?

**Notch/Herobrine: How old are both of you?**

Notch- I guess we're as old as Minecraftia itself. *shrug*

**Adeline: How well do you think you get on with everyone INCLUDING CLAIRE please rate on a scale of 1 to 10 individualy.**

Adeline- Let's see... Claire is a 7, Shadow a 3, Will a 10, Squirt was a 9, Flu was a 10, so is Rex and Sploosh, and this new Zoea girl I'm going to say an 8.

**Adeline: You know how you said you had pikachu? I had one too! POKEMON PALS FTW!**

Adeline- Yay! :D *fistbump*

**Shadow: What was the hardest potion you tried to brew?**

Shadow- Hmm... probably a potion of regeneration. Because of the ghast tears.

**Mr. Spider: If you become Adeline's pet, will you carry her around? Also, we should name you something other than Mr. Spider. I think I remember a spider named Martin from some story, how about that for a name!**

Mr. Spider- I don't intend on becoming anyone's pet. And no. My name is not Martin.

**Rex: Do you like Mr. Spider/Martin?**

Rex- Mr. Spider is nice because he doesn't hurt anyone but I haven't seen him in a while so I don't really know.

**Adeline: Why dont you be strong and admit you like Shadow?**

Adeline- Because I'm only strong physically...

Phew! I hope you guys read those. They take a lot of work. See ya guys later! :D I love all of you! (Except maybe the Claire harassers.) Jk I love you guys too.

~FMF


	15. A Commendment for Bravery

**READ PLEASE! :D I DON'T THINK MOST OF YOU DO!**

Agh! D: Updates are getting slower and slower. I hope this trend doesn't continue...

But nevermind. The little survey I wrote helped me a lot, even though not a lot of you did it. And I changed the summary to something more catchy. **ALSO! READ! IMPORTANT! **I've created a poll! Go look! Okay, you can skip now, unless you reviewed and want to see my reply.

Replies to Reviews!

Sea of Fire: A hundred? o_o Woh.

Justplainawesome: Yup, I've planned pretty much the rest of the story so I don't have to later on. :)

Wolfie: Thank you! c: I'm honored. And yes, I'll be doing Q&A for the rest of the book.

Shaddow112: I'm not too sure, honestly. And sorry I took too long :c

Raven Himeyono: I'm done with the OC contest, sorry!

HarryPotterEncyclopedia24: Whee! :D Thank you!

MechanixAngel: Yay! :D And don't worry, I'm a lot lazier than you.

SparkYoshi: He HAS to? Hmm... ;)

Sacro: Nooo... she wasn't. And I'm done with OC's, sorry :c

thefallenkingofend: ...It did? o_O

Luis Fenfir: Whee! :D Thank you thank you thank you! And yeah, first person is hard to use transitions with.

Mellifluousness: I love long reviews. XD Especially when you review little parts of the story, you're the only person I know that does that.

Vanochi: Yus! :D But wait until I redo Shadow, his art is a horrible reference. HORRIBLE.

Guest: Hmm! Where DID he get those sticks?

berzekoid: I don't really get TV Tropes. XD I didn't get it from there.

Bendabomer: Okay, my name isn't Bailey, I have no idea who you are. Sorry! :C

hi: Nope. This story has absolutely no Yogscast in it at all.

7: I'm guessing you're Curtisimo. But I might be wrong.

Aslef101: :D Yay!

Chris Ahrens: Woh! D: I didn't know that! Thanks!

And now... Chapter 15. PLASMAAAA! *throws a smoke bomb and vanishes like a ninja*

* * *

><p>Chapter 15: A Comm<strong>END<strong>ment for Bravery

"Yep, we're lost."

This was the fifth time Will and I had come across the block of cobblestone. we had placed to mark our path. The fifth time we had gone around in one big circle. Wait, there are no circles in Minecraftia... one big square?

Well, we were lost.

"Shadow?" I yelled, looking for our friends. "Claire? Zoea? Rex?"

No answer. We must have been really deep into the labyrinth. It didn't look that big from the outside, but I guess that's how it is for all fortresses.

"Well, fudgenuggets," I declared. "Maybe we should just wander around until we find the blaze room. I guess it WAS my idea to go through here..."

"Yeah, it's all your fault," Will joked, lightly punching my shoulder. I pretended to collapse in agony and we both started laughing.

Suddenly, a flight of stairs appeared. We must have broken free from the circle and ended up going down a different path. So we eagerly climbed up it and were surprised to see Shadow standing in the middle of a large field of weird red tendrils.

"Hey Shadow!" Will greeted. "What you up to?"

"..." the black-haired boy turned around, bundles of the plant zooming onto his toolbelt. "Just picking some Netherwart. You guys?"

"Not much," I replied, examining my really gross nails. "Looking for the blazes, talking."

"About what?"

"Uh. I don't know? Life?"

That was good enough for him. Shadow turned back around, face a bit red, and started picking Netherwart again. "I heard weird noises somewhere above this room," he said after a second. "Maybe the blazes are up there?"

He was right. An eerie noise, like the sound of a sword scraping against stone, echoed from somewhere above the room we were in.

"So... are you staying here?" Will asked after a few seconds of listening to the ominous noises.

"Uh... yeah." Shadow answered. "I still have the other half of this farm to pick. Then I wanna replant some. You know what, how about you two just go on your own. Just the two of you... fighting..."

"Okay, let's just go," I mumbled, dragging Will by the arm as Shadow started mumbling to himself.

I pulled out Silverdart, and Will pulled out an giant stone pickaxe, one that was at least twice as big and thick as a regular pick.

"How'd you craft that?" I asked, marveling at the amount of pain that thing reflected.

"I took a regular stone pick, and another used pick and I crafted them together," the farmboy replied. "Isn't this thing awesome?"

"Does it have a name?" I asked, spinning mine around like a baton, something I had practiced for a while.

"Uh," Will stuttered, getting blinded by the light spinning off of the blade. "Timothy."

"Timothy?"

"Hey, I just came up with it," he shrugged. "Well, I used to have a pet pig named Timothy... he got eaten."

"By zombies?"

"No... by me."

There was an awkward silence. "I see," I replied. "My sword's name is Silverdart. He's been around for a while, so I really don't know how much more uses he can get..."

It was true. My favorite weapon wasn't shiny anymore, and more than a few dents littered the blade from hitting monsters with the flat side of it. Hopefully it hadn't grown soft from the heat of the Nether.

Will hoisted Timothy over his shoulder and we headed up a different flight of stairs. I didn't know how stuffy it was in the fortress until I could see the outside, and even then it was still extremely hot.

The flaming cage in the middle of the chamber spawned a blaze, and the minute our feet reached the top step, all of the blazes slowly turned and looked at us.

It honestly freaked me out a little.

Once they saw us they started to fly up into the air, small rods swirling around them and growing brighter. They were at least a third of the size of the giant blaze that Claire was taking care of, but they were still a huge hazard.

That and I didn't have my iron armor on. It was in a chest back at home.

I cursed under my breath, and Will and I charged. He hit a blaze with one of the pointy ends of the humungous pick like he was mining, and I was surprised to see the blaze's head shatter with the sheer force of the swing. Imagine what Timothy could do to someone's skull.

After admiring Will's weapon (and biceps, coughcough), I lunged Silverdart at the nearest blaze, and the top punctured one of the eyes. It screamed in pain, and I took that chance to slice it's now vulnerable body in half. Yes, it was made of mostly netherrack, but the heat that radiated from it made its body soft.

As Will hacked at the blazes, I quickly ran to the spawner and placed torches all around it so no more could spawn, then started to slice at another blaze.

Will was crushing them a lot faster than I was, and he would kill two by the time I could kill one. It took all of my focus not to be distracted by the flying pieces of blaze skull coming from his direction, but one time I had to watch him.

He happened to look over at the same time. I waved, but his eyes widened.

Was I that pretty, or- Oh.

There was no pain for a few seconds after the white-hot blaze rod sank itself halfway into my shoulder, but once my brain realized there was a stick of firey death in its body, it decided to make a thousand pain receptors go off at once and make me white out from the sheer agony.

~(|)~

"Adeline? Earth - or... Minecraftia to Adeline. You awake?"

I groaned as Zoea snapped her fingers in my face. "Stop it..." I groaned, swatting at her hand and rolling over onto the warm netherrack.

"No. If you sleep, you'll die."

"Huh?" That wasn't a nice prospect. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, then snorted as Rex threw himself into my lap.

"I was kidding, but I'm glad you're awake," Zoea exclaimed, petting Tala. I grumbled, then rolled up my shirt to look at the wound the blaze rod left me.

Ouch. It looked almost like a large bullet hole, about the size of a nickel. Most of my shoulder was a shiny, blistery red, except for around and inside the hole, which was a very disgusting black.

"Yeah, it didn't smell too good," Claire walked up to me, the giant blaze she had taken care of closely behind her, making dragon-like rumbling noises. "Luckily Shadow came out of the fortress just in time and donated one of his potions."

"You're welcome," Shadow said from behind me, making me jump.

"Where's Will?" I asked nobody in particular.

"Of course you would ask that," Shadow replied. "Your boyfriend is over there, getting some glowstone." The word "boyfriend" came out of his mouth like hot lava.

I looked over to where he jerked his head, and was terrified to see him on a small pillar at least thirty blocks over a sea of lava, gathering a clump of glowstone attached to the ceiling with a pickaxe smaller than Timothy.

"Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled to let him go either," Claire noticed my expression. "But he insisted. Said something about rather himself falling into lava than us. He's such a selfless guy, I like him."

Shadow grunted in either agreement or annoyance. "He's probably gunna get himself killed. Look at him, just making a one block wide bridge over the lava and trying to catch the glowstone when it falls."

Once he had mined the last block of glowstone, Will teetered back down the small bridge and climbed down the ladders he had placed.

"Hey guys," he greeted as if he hadn't risked toppling off a narrow bridge and into lava. "Good to see you awake, Adeline."

"What were you thinking?" I squealed. "You could have died! Couldn't you have at least made a wall around the bridge?"

"Calm down..." Will replied. "I'm alive, aren't I?"

He was. Why was I freaking out? Was I... afraid to lose him?

"Okay, you're right..." I admitted.

"Uh, I hate to break up this touching moment and all," Zoea said. "But I'm hungry. You guys brought food, right?"

"I did," Claire replied, digging through her bag. "And just curious... what do you eat here?"

"Well..." Zoea put one finger on her lower lip. "Zombie pigmen meat, usually... but if I find a magma cube, then the magma cream you can make with slimeballs and blaze powder is good on bread."

"Heh... slimeballs," my cousin answered, taking a few cooked slices of beef out of the bag. She gave one to everybody, and I gladly sunk my teeth into the chunk of cow. Rex wandered off to gnaw on a piece of rotting pigman flesh, probably his new favorite food, and Sploosh had come out of my backpack to absorb some mushrooms growing on some soul sand.

"Oh man," Zoea moaned, wiping a drop of juices off of her lip. "I haven't had real meat since... since I was on Earth, actually!"

"You spawned here?"

"Yeah. I woke up inside the fortress, and found Tala a little bit later. I have no idea how she got here, but she liked me."

"What did you do for wood?" Will asked.

"Oh, I was walking around and I saw this guy trying to kill a tribe of zombie pigmen," she replied. "They killed him and he dropped a bunch of wood and some iron tools. Then he exploded in a flash of... blue light, if I'm correct. Pretty weird.

"...And if you're in a pinch blaze rods can substitute for sticks," she added, fixing a buckle on one of her leather boots. "So my pickaxe has a blaze rod handle and a netherrack blade. I have a sword, but I never use it. Always a bow. And it has the infinity enchantment, so I never need to use arrows."

"So... I can make a bow out of blaze rods?" Claire asked, getting a little giddy.

"Uh, sure, I guess you could..."

"WHEEE!" Claire jumped up and ran off, probably to get more blaze rods. Safely, I hoped.

Shadow moved to the spot she was originally sitting in, making our little circle tighter. "So, uh... Adeline," he began. "This whole saving the world thing you need to do? What is it, really?"

"Oh," I answered. "Well, according to Notch, me and you guys, I guess, have to get glowstone and blaze rods from the Nether."

"Which we did." Will added.

"Which we did. And we have to use the glowstone blocks to build a frame like the Nether portal and fill it with water instead of lighting it on fire."

"I've never heard of this..." Zoea muttered. "Is this a joke?"

"No! It makes a portal to a place that's the opposite of the Nether called the Aether. And there we need to talk to creatures called the Valkyries, and they'll tell us how to defeat the Enderdragon."

"And is that your ultimate goal?" Shadow asked.

"Uh, yes," I said. "And I think there are other people all over Earth getting warped into Minecraftia too, not just us. And... so far I know Squirt and Flu, - you don't know them, Zoea, - Claire, Zoea, and I don't know about Shadow. He said he never came from Earth, which is weird. Did you come from a village?"

"I don't remember much..." he replied. "Squirt didn't either, he didn't remember anything about his past... but I think I did."

"Yeah, so Squirt and Flu both died, and it was with a flash of differently colored light, like Zoea described. And... I'm thinking that people that get warped here... are destined to die..."

"Yeah?" Zoea didn't seem too fazed by that. "But what about you? If we all die at some point, then you can't save the world and we'll all be screwed, right?"

"I think Notch is protecting her," Will piped up. "Because she has to defeat the Enderdragon, so she's too precious to lose!"

"Oh, stop it, you..." I blushed. "And... you know how most of the best movies or books have three main characters? I think since Claire and Shadow are the first people I met, Notch is protecting them, too!"

"But what about us?" Will asked, a slightly concerned look shining through his glasses.

"I don't know about you guys..." I answered truthfully. "But technically, Will's next to die, but that might not be true. Maybe we'll be a team of five, you never know!"

"Okay," Shadow agreed. "That's a nice theory. But why would people be destined to die? And what's with the whole color thing?"

"Notch told me about a thing called an aura," I said. "It's like, the color of your spirit, like who you are. He told me mine was gold, which means brave, honest, and loyal, but a bit sensitive. And..." I tried to think. "Will's was navy blue, and that means brave and selfless and loyal to your friends. Claire's was yellow, which means cheerful and positive an friendly."

"Really?" Zoea raised an eyebrow. "I haven't been with you guys long, but... I'm getting the feels that she's a bit of a brat."

"Hey!" Shadow retorted. "Don't talk about her like that..."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Zoea faked an apologetic pout. "Are you two boyfwiend and girlfwiend? You guys are like, 14. It doesn't count."

"Hey now," I interrupted before Shadow went all hostile-mob and ate her or something. "And not to defend Shadow, but we're in Minecraftia. We can pretty much throw all society rules out the window now, because there are barely any people to judge."

"And you say Claire's the brat...?" Will mumbled under his breath.

Zoea looked down. "...I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I have four older brothers back on Earth, and I need to be mean to them so they'll stay out of my stuff."

"Mmkay," I replied, messing with my fingernails, the undersides caked with dried blood. "That works for me."

Shadow frowned, and didn't say much after that.

We all turned when we heard a low rumble, which turned out to be Claire's blaze, with Claire standing on top of him. In her hand was a bright orange bow that was at least twice as big as her first one.

I have to admit, she looked extremely badass.

"Hi, guys!" She yelled, jumping off her blaze. "Look! It's so pretty!" She brandished her bow, almost poking me in the eye in the process. The giant blaze tried to nuzzle her shoulder, instead knocking her over. "Agh, stop it, Bay."

"Bay?" Will wondered out loud.

"Short for Baelfire," she announced. "Isn't he just gorgeous?" Rex growled a little, probably jealous of the large creature.

"AND..." Claire wasn't done. "Look what followed me back here?"

A large slime, a lot bigger than Sploosh, peeked at us from behind her leg. Instead of being green, it was a dark red, with eyes that burned like hot coals.

"It's a magma cube!" Zoea cried. "They're really rare, 'cuz they like to drown themselves in the middle of lava lakes!"

"Squirt wasn't crazy," Claire added. "This magma cube does talk to me... but it calls me Mom... it's awkward.

"I decided to name him Splish. Kinda like Sploosh. If Shadow got a slime or something else like it, he could name it Splash! Splish, Splash, Sploosh! Hahaha!"

Shadow gave a weak little smile, like he was thinking about something else. "How many blaze rods did we get?" He asked.

Will, Claire and I looked into our bags. I had six, Will had eight, and Claire had two. Zoea had at least twenty, because she had lived in the Nether her whole time here.

"How much glowstone dust did Will get?" Zoea said.

"Enough to make the Aether portal frame and light up our house," he replied. "So I think we have blaze rods to make Eyes of Ender, yeah? I don't know how many we'll need, probably at least ten."

"Can I come back to the Overworld with you guys?" Zoea pleaded. "I've never been there, and... I wanna take a break from heat and lava all the time." Tala barked in agreement.

"How are you gunna get THAT home?" Will pointed at Baelfire.

"Oh, I never thought of that..." Claire replied. "I'll figure out something." She stroked the large crack going down Bay's face and over his eye. Splish jumped onto her shoulder.

"So are we all ready to go back?" I asked, taking out Silverdart, who was definitely on his last legs.

Everyone nodded, and we gathered our weapons and animals, then headed back toward the portal.

We only took a few steps when something weird happened. There was a large explosion, or at least the sound of one, coming from our destination, then a large wave of purple energy burst from the center of the portal.

"Get down!" I yelled, and we all hit netherrack. Baelfire ducked down into the lava, as he was immune, Splish safely on his head. I could feel the wave speeding over us, freezing cold energy grazing the top of my head and making me shiver. Then, as soon as it appeared, it was gone, absorbed into the walls.

Will got up first. "Everyone okay?" he asked.

"I think so, is the portal still standing?" Shadow replied. And it was. The explosion didn't seem to have hurt it at all.

A loud scream startled everybody. To the left of us, over the lava, was a large ghast writhing in pain as purple blisters bubbled all over its leathery body. The tears going down its face turned a neon, acidlike electric blue, and as it opened its mouth to let out another screech of agony, it revealed a long, dragonlike blue tongue.

Then, it exploded, showering us with chunks of slimy purple ghast flesh and cold blue fluid. I was unfazed, as I had gotten used to huge amounts of gore covering every square inch of me, but Claire squealed with disgust and tried to wipe the stuff off of her skin.

"What the..." Will groaned. "What was that?"

"I have no idea," I replied. "But we need to keep walking, in case something else happens."

And something did indeed happen as we approached the tribe of zombie pigmen. They began to grunt and screech like pigs being carried to slaughter as veins of purple began to stretch over them, covering most of their body and turning their eyes a bright pinkish purple, like an Enderman that had made eye contact with you.

"Oh... crap," Claire moaned. "We need to get through them..."

"Yes we do," I replied. "Everyone ready your weapons. We're gunna fight our way through."

My sword, Will's giant pickaxe, Shadow's splash potions, Zoea's bow and Claire's giant one, Rex and Tala's fangs, and Baelfire's projectiles. All were readied as we prepared to face our most dangerous battle yet: a tribe of Ender-infected zombie pigmen.

"Ready?" I asked, and everyone nodded, determination in their eyes. I pointed at Zoea, Claire, and Baelfire. "SNIPE!"

A volley of arrows and blaze rods streamed through the sky, hitting zombie pigmen spot on, but only killing two out of what was at least fifty. They all squealed, confused as to why their tribe-mates were dropping, then they turned and saw us.

We walked forward, weapons at the ready, then charged.

Will and I were at the front, absorbing most of their swings as we hacked and crushed at the pigmen. The disease had changed them from neutral groups that would attack only if provoked into berserk frenzied monsters that would stop at nothing until anything alive was obliterated.

They didn't really think of using their swords, which were fairly blunt and fragile anyway, being made out of gold. Instead, they flailed at us with their lumpy violet fists, and tried to gore us with their small, rotting tusks. None of which were too effective, but in a large group, their relentless thrashing could be fatal.

Shadow made sure to stay close to all of us at all times, chucking potions at the ground, which would heal us but hurt them. And Claire and Zoea rode on Baelfire, firing arrows while he shot blaze rods.

Rex and Tala stayed by my side at all times, chomping and slashing at the rotten bodies, sometimes eating them alive, which would heal them.

But however many went down, it felt like more appeared. We had to walk forward, I wasn't planning on killing all of them, just fighting our way to the portal, which was about thirty feet from us.

Eventually, Zoea decided that we needed help down below, so she pur her bow away and took out her netherrack sword, which was a tiny bit stronger than stone. She jumped off of Baelfire and joined Will and I in cutting the pigmen to pieces.

But we were outnumbered, and definitely losing. Shadow only had two splash potions of healing left, and Rex and Tala were beginning to slow, as well as Will and I. The portal was right there, but it felt like a hundred miles away as the zombie pigmen began to surround us.

And that was when Silverdart, my precious iron sword, snapped in two.

Zoea knew we were defeated. "Go through the portal, Tala!" she screamed, and as her pet ran through and disappeared, she ran to the edge of the netherrack and yelled, "Hey! UGLIES! OVER HERE!"

Most of the pigmen stopped and looked at the girl, who was waving her arms and looking very much like a free meal. They all let out a disease-distorted battle cry and followed Zoea.

"GO!" she yelled at us as the pigmen began to surround her. "Forget about me! Go save the world!"

"But-" I protested, but she waved goodbye. Reluctantly, we all stepped into the portal, feeling the world shimmer and ripple around us.

The last thing I saw before everything went black was Zoea smiling and bursting into red light as bright as fire itself.

~(|)~

"For gold's sake, Herobrine, you didn't have to make creepers stronger! They're deadly enough already!"

"I know, I know, I just felt they needed to be more threatening."

At the moment, the Aether god Notch and his brother Herobrine were having a bit of a scuffle. They often changed the world of Minecraftia to make it better, more beautiful, but sometimes one of them did something unnecessary.

"Okay then, what about those things called emeralds?" Herobrine retorted. "We weren't supposed to make anything more sought after than diamonds! Diamonds are like our mascot on Earth!"

"I wanted to give the Testificates purpose, brother," Notch replied. "All they did was walk around with their arms folded! I wouldn't want to do that my whole life, would you?"

Herobrine, empty white eyes narrowed, was about to fire back another argument when a spidery black hand clamped over his mouth.

"Ha! Got you!" An echoey, slightly feminine voice exclaimed.

"What is this?" Notch cried, backing away. "Who are you?"

""Oh, no you don't!" Another hand covered the god's eyes, so he couldn't watch his brother become cuffed with purple energy, making him unable to defend himself with magic. "I think we got 'em, Darcy," a different echoey voice declared. "Mistress Enderdragon will be pleased, will she not?"

"Right you are, Duncan. You've been useful for once. Now haul your little Ender behind back to Headquarters. Maybe we'll get a raise."

* * *

><p>And now you know who Darcy and Duncan are. :D I think I'll draw them, but I dunno.<p>

So if you haven't yet, be sure to check out my Deviantart account, TheMinersDestiny! It has art of the characters, a map of the TMD world, and other cool stuff! Even if you don't have an account you can look anyway. But you can make an account if you want.

And now, interviews! Even if you didn't post a question look anyway c:

**To Shadow: So seeing as you're actually going somewhere with this stupid love triangle, I'm going to leave your relationship with Claire alone.**

Shadow- Thank you! Finally!

**To everyone: What are your thoughts and feelings towards having to save the world? And how did you feel when Adeline didn't tell you?**

Claire- I think it'll be fun! C:

Shadow- I'd like to see the world. And I respect Adeline's secrecy.

Will- Better than doing it by yourself. And Adeline was probably scared that we wouldn't want to help her.

Zoea- I hope I helped... :(

**To Adeline: I have a girlfriend named Adeline... are you here? YOU** **SAID YOU HATED MINECRAFT? And if your there with everyone else, how come I'm still in the human world?**

Adeline- ...psycho... o_o *slowly inches away*

**To Rex: Do you want some steak? if the answer is yes, here ya go! i love dogs!**

Rex- Yay yay yay thank you thank you thank you!

**To Notch: Can you add ferrets to minecraft?**

Notch- ...nah. They smell bad.

**To Adeline: I'm your biggest fan, Adeline. You are SO like me. Hey, can I be your friend?**

Adeline- Sure thing! c:

**To Rex: You are one of the cutest wolves I've ever seen in Minecraft fanfics! In the real gameplay and my fanfiction, I have a wolf called Pluto. You two will so get along well! He likes steaks too!**

Rex- Oh you're so nice and Pluto sounds like a nice wolf maybe we'll meet someday!

**To Shadow: If you didn't steal Adeline's diamonds, then do you know who did it?**

Shadow- ...nope. Not at all.

**To the ghast: how do you feel after being pwned in the face by the blaze?**

Ghast- I feel like a pitiful weakling! :C

**To Claire: Why do you have to take Shadow? Will is pretty nice.**

Claire- Well, I didn't know Will until a little while ago...

**To forth wall repair man: Hey mate, Don't worry. I'll take over your job.-SpartaMan222.**

Repairman- OH BLESS NOTCH THANK YOU! *bows and kisses shoes*

**To gang: Don't worry. I will not bully you into any questions. Just... *Puts out fist* Brohoof?**

Everyone- Brohoof! :)

**To Claire: you are my fave! (I think I said that already XD), but I was wondering, were you good at archery back on earth? Or is it just minecraft?**

Claire- Yay! A fan! :D And no, just in Minecraft.

**To Adeline: GOOD WORK SISTAH. SHADOW WILL BE SO PISSED. But you can't go breaking Will's heart just so you can piss off Shadow...promise me that, k?**

Adeline- Nonono. I was going to, but I found out how nice and sweet Will is, so I'll stay with him for a while. :)

**To Zoea: how's it feel, livin in hell?**

Zoea- Not too bad, once you get used to the heat!

**To Shadow: Alright, so this isn't going to be a relationship question, so you can stop bracing yourself. What is your biggest fear?**

Shadow- Oh. Uhm... either failing... or... being alone...

**To obsidian: How does it feel to be stronger than your Earthen counterparts, only to be taken down in 30 seconds, and possible accidentally burned by lava? How does it feel to be made into a house that is Creeper-proof?**

Obsidian- AGH. CAN'T WE JUST BE LEFT IN PIECE?

**To Mr. Spider: So, I translated your name into Spanish, and it translates to Senor Arana. After searching Arana into google, I found that Arana is a super hero girl in the Marvel universe. So, I have come to conclusion you have a Mexican superhero female counterpart. Your thoughts?**

Mr. Spider- ...have you been smoking red flowers? o_O

**To obsidian: You don't like Will much, do you?**

Obsidian- NO. I HATE HIM FOR MINING ME AND MY FAMILY.

**Mr. Spider:Y u attack flu? D: she was then you kill her Y? also :will u be my friend? if so thank you may you have joy bestowed on u forever :)**

Mr. Spider- I didn't attack Flu, the cave spiders did! D:

**To iron, stone, and wood: Are you jealous of diamond being more important than you?**

Iron- Yes! But I like being second.

Stone- I'm so easy to find... ;3;

Wood- I'm just incinerator food...

**To Will: Why do you like Adeline?**

Will- Well, she's nice, and funny, and pretty... Yeah.

**To Mr. Spider: What was it like to live under a tree?**

Mr. Spider- Pretty fun, actually.

**To Rex's booties: How does it feel to be shoved onto the hot netherrack?**

Booties- We hate it! The back left bootie doesn't seem to care though...

**To Claire/Shadow: You don't need to worry, I'm not going to harass you and your relationship.**

Claire- Thanks. -_-

Shadow- Yeah, thank you...

**Claire: How many haters do you think you have?**

Claire- Ahem... OVER NINE THOUSAAAND!

**Adeline/Will: Do you get the feeling your plan might backfire?**

Adeline- Nah. I think the plan's off, actually. We'll just be a relationship c:

**To Squirt: Are you annoyed that the author killed you off so fast?**

Squirt- Author? What author?

**To Rex: What would you do if Adeline died?**

Rex- I think I would throw myself off a mountain but maybe I'll hug a creeper and blow up but I'm also thinking of eating so much that I explode.

**To Shadow: Why the sudden attitude flop? Did you get more emotional when Claire kissed you?**

Shadow- Uh... sure.

**To Adeline: Relationships shouldn't be made for vengeance.**

Adeline- I know c: That's why I'm not doing that plan anymore.

**To Zoea (lovely name by the way): Have you met that blaze before? You seemed very willing to heal it.**

Zoea- Aww, thank you! And I've seen him around.

**To Tala: How do you feel about Rex?**

Tala- I think Rex is really nice but he's really hyper but I can't really talk because I'm energetic too!

**To Herobrine: Dear Herobrine, ever since i got minecraft...YOUR SOUL PURPOSE HAS BEEN TO HUNT ME DOWN! WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME AND THE REST OF MY FRIENDS ON A SERVER SURE WE TRIED TO KILL YOU ONCE BUT WHAT THE HECK STOP STALKING US! :0**

Herobrine- Sorry. I'll stop... maybe. ;)

**To Adeline: OMG you and will are already a cute couple *does "awh" pose* i hope you too a great relationship, and i hope you too can make evil plots against claire x shadow! :D oh and good luck in your quest sincerely, Josh and Jess :D**

Adeline- Thanks, Josh and Jess! :D

**To Shadow: I got 50 diamonds in one day. U JELLY BRO?**

Shadow- ...yes. Very jelly.

**To Adeline: I got 50 diamonds in one day. U JELLY BRO?**

Adeline- ARGH! GIMME!

**To Sploosh: You are jelly, bro.**

Sploosh- I am jelly?

**To Whoever's stealing Adeline's diamonds: STOP STEALING THE DIAMONDS! THAT'S NOT NICE!**

Mysterious Person- ... I only need a few more though...

**To Squirt: So did you end up in the Nether or Aether?**

Squirt- Uh... I dunno...

**Enderdragon: You're awesome.**

Enderdragon- Am I?

**Notch: Preparing for the next update?**

Notch- Yup! Hopefully...

**Adeline: Hey, if my theory is correct, this is just like a multiplayer server, so you should unleash a bunch of commands on Claire! Like /fireball! Or /kill! Or even... /BAN!**

Adeline- I don't wanna KILL CLaire! D:

**Rex: Do you prefer to be called Rex or Rexy? Or maybe even T-Rex? Or W-Rex, W standing for wolf.**

Rex- W-Rex is a wierd name I think I like just being called Rex.

**Shadow: Ever heard of goats? (why goats? I have no idea)**

Shadow- ...no?

**To Notch: Does the rest of your Mojang team reside with you in the Aether? Also, do you have your hat in your god form still?**

Notch- Mojang? What's a Mojang?

**To random piece of dirt: How does it feel to be so insignificant?**

Dirt- I answer for all of the dirt when I say it feels like CRAP!

-.- Phew. Those take a really long time. It's awesome because Chapter 15 has the most reviews, with 51, I think, which means the amount of reviews goes up with each new one! :D Keep on reading! I love you all!

~FMF


	16. Crescendo

**READ READ READ PLEASE! **

Okay, Important stuff. I have a new survey for you guys. :D This time, it's more of an opinion-based thing. The last one was so I knew if I forgot to mention something, and this one will tell me what people like so I can do more of it.

And I have betas now! :D The awesome and amazing MechanixAngel, and the magical Mellifluousness! Love ya guys! :D

Second, yes, I have disabled anon reviews. It's for the best, I swear. If you were not a troll and wanted to tell me how amazing my fic is, then make an account. It's free! :3

AND. If your review is nothing but questions to the characters, I am going to ignore it. I almost stopped doing them, but I changed my mind. Because I feel like you guys only read it so you can ask the characters a question, and I want feedback for the story, not just more questions to put down. So. Yeah, sorry.

**AND. THE OC CONTEST IS DONE. STOP REVIEWING IT OR SENDING ME PM'S OR I. WILL. IGNORE YOU. **Okay, I think I got the message across :)

Lastly, don't trust MechanixAngel. He knows too much. ;)

And now, some less important stuff: This story, if your curious,has almost 19,000 views! Wheee! So proud! And a shoutout to Chris Ahrens for being the 300th reviewer! Well, the 300th REAL review, not just a question. *cough* So proud of you guys! Love ya!

Replies to Reviews!

Curtisimo: Oh. Timothy was an inside joke for mostly MechanixAngel. Should have asked you first, sorry! :c

Chris Ahrens: NOOO! Don't shave Rex! He's so cuddly! And thanks for the 300th review, it made me feel as fuzzy as Rex inside. :)

Sea of Fire: Hmm... I'm not sure. Probably Zoea.

MechanixAngel: The GIANT stone pickaxe. And Will did end up eating Timothy, didn't he? ;) Was that inspired by me? And yes, you saw a significant change. You know too much. C:

supersaiyan3goku: Thanks! And... extreme awesomeness! :3

Ptrip3: Nice icon :3 And yeah, I'm a little lazy. Congratz on noticing the Pokémon reference!

ArgharnaMaleka: Aww :c Sorry I woke your family.

InvaderL: If you do that for the entire story I am gunna laugh so hard. What are you gunna say on the last chapter? :D

Mellifluousness: Well, blazes have a core in the middle where their face is. :D And yes, Darcy and Duncan were based off of Jessie and James. Gratz on figuring that out. XD

GothKat2SlashFan: Yep. :c She'll get a new one soon, don't worry.

thefallenkingofend: Huh. That's a strange concept.

Kyanite Archer: ;) I am a sick jerk.

HarryPotterEncyclopedia24: Wooooh :O Caps. And yes, Splish Splash Sploosh :D gratz on figuring it out. YOU TELL NO ONE.

CyanSkies: About time! :D Your story is great btw. And yes, I must kill off the characters. And the sploosh question make me lol, I didn't realize that. XD

RupeeofMadnes: Yeah, I play a bit of Runescape. I don't go on much and I'm only level 20. My username is Nemireth. Remember it. XD

KookietimeMC: Aaah! D: I don't wanna interrupt your sleeping pattern! *amnesia monster face* GO TO SLEEP.

PyroPotter: Darn. :c

XxXAkumaNoTenshiXxX: Awww, crap. Better go fix that. YOU SAW NOTHING!

thefinalhero7000: Hmm, an emotionless fan. And Mr. Spider will be in the story more, don't worry. ^^

TShark9999: Yeah, all the time! :D And I feel the Aether should be a real Minecraft thing, so I treat it as if it's been there forever.

Shinjuju: NOTCH NOTCH NOTCH NOTCH. Wait, what?

I'm Furr: Aww, I'm honored! :D And no, the OC contest is over.

OKAY! Time for the chap! It's sorta short, but I felt the ending was perfect. Enjoy, my lovelies!

* * *

><p>Chapter 16: Cresc<strong>END<strong>o

Instead of appearing at the bottom of the mineshaft like I should have, I opened my eyes to see myself standing in the middle of... nothing?

There wasn't anything around me except for pink, purple, and light blue misty clouds, almost like I was in a dream. "Adeline!" I heard, coming from somewhere in front of me. Or was it behind me? "Can you hear me?"

"Uh, yeah," I answered.

"It's Notch," the voice replied. "I'm in a little bit of trouble. So when you go to the Aether you're not going to see me. The Valkyries are going to have to tell you everything."

"Alright," I replied. "Wait. What kind of trouble?"

"You're in my consciousness right now," Notch said. "Because the Enderdragon's henchmen caught Herobrine and I and chained us up with some sort of magic energy. I can't use any of my powers, but I was able to catch you just as you were walking through the portal. You're not going to be able to rescue us, so don't try."

"The Enderdragon has henchmen?"

"Yes. From what I'm hearing - I'm blindfolded at the moment - the Enderdragon handpicks Endermen with special qualities and recruits them into a group of elites that directly serve her. I don't know how many there are, though." "Okay, thanks for the info," I said. "Can I go?"

"Of course," Notch answered, and everything went black.

The first thing I saw when I stepped through the portal was everyone's concerned face, including Splish and Baelfire, who ended up able to go through the portal. However, the giant blaze was now a fraction of his actual size, the core, where his face was, was only about three feet tall.

"You're a little late," Will wondered. "How come?"

"Notch and Herobrine got... uhm, god-napped," I answered. "So we're not gunna see them at the Aether. Notch just... told me." I felt really stupid, like the Chosen One or something, like the gods had sent me a vision.

"Yeah, I had a feeling something would happen..." Shadow mumbled. "So that means... we need to find the Valkyries?"

"Yep. Now let's go upstairs. Is Baelfire gunna burn down the house?"

"I don't think so..." Claire we walked up the long set of cobblestone stairs. "Maybe we should keep him outside, just in case?"

"Sounds good," Will finalized.

So, once we opened the door to our house, we were shocked to see the outside covered in tall grass. Had we really been gone that long?

Claire let Baelfire outside, and he happily floated around, making much less intimidating growling sounds and lighting a nearby tree on fire. We set to work cutting down the wild grass and flowers that had grown all around our house, which made it look like it was vacant.

As I used some of Will's shears to slice the weeds out of the ground, I noticed that sometimes a cluster of seeds popped out too and flew into my backpack. These were used to grow wheat, right?

"Hey," Will suggested. "We should build a garden. Or a greenhouse. So we can have bread and melons and things." "Melons?" I asked. "Don't we need melon seeds for that?"

"I have some," the farmboy answered, adjusting his glasses. "They're found in abandoned mineshafts sometimes. I also found a music disc down there, but I don't have a jukebox."

"Great!" Claire clapped her hands together. "Let's get started! Do we have enough glass?"

"I have some," Shadow answered. "I need a lot to make bottles for my potions. I think there'll be enough for a small greenhouse."

"Okay, you guys start," Will said. "And I'll go make glowstone for the Aether portal. Should I keep the Nether portal up?"

Suddenly, I remembered Zoea. She sacrificed herself so we could escape through the portal. My eyes misted a little, then I turned and replied, "No, destroy it."

"Yes, Your Highness," Will replied jokingly, and I laughed as I watched him turn and walk back into the house. Shadow handed us some glass, and we set to work, adding a small hallway of glass onto the side of the house. Rex and Tala watched us, but Tala seemed a little off. For a wolf, she looked really sad, probably because her master, and only friend, was dead.

Rex looked like he was comforting her, licking the side of her face every so often, but the female wolf kept nudging him away. She looked rather depressed.

Anyway, our greenhouse wasn't going to be too big, I guess, because we had a bunch of other things to eat. I've wondered lately if Minecraftians need to eat a balanced diet to stay healthy like people on Earth do. I guess not, since when I first got here I mostly ate meat.

"Adeline..." Claire waved her hand in my face. "You're zoning out. You having a vision or something?"

"No, just thinking," I sighed. "So where should we plant the wheat?"

"How about on the edges?" Shadow suggested. "Like on the long side, and we can put the melons on the end."

"And maybe some flowers?" Claire asked. "For decoration."

"Sure," I answered. "I have some leftover flowers in my bag, we can plant them. What about pumpkins? Did anyone find pumpkin seeds too?"

"Don't think so," Shadow replied, grabbing a stone hoe and digging into the grass. "Where should we put the water?" "How about..." I used my shovel to dig a small trench in the very middle, then took my bucket of safety water that I had if I ever fell in lava and aimed it. "Here."

It ended up landing mostly on Claire's shoe, but the trench was full and the water wasn't soaking into the ground like on Earth. That would probably be good.

Claire took the melon seeds and stuck them into the now-dark dirt, singing to herself, "_Lada da da da, I'm gunna bury you in the ground... Lada da da da, I'm gunna bury you with my_-"

"Stop it," I said.

"Why?"

"I'm just... not in the mood." I replied.

But that wasn't why. She wasn't supposed to be a really good singer. She usually sucked. As in, sucked no matter how much practice she did. No hope for her voice kind of suck.

So why did she sound like she could apply for American Idol and make at least fourth place?

Shadow jolted me out of my pondering by saying, "Should we grow reeds too? For sugar?"

"Yeah, sure thing," I answered. "Um... how about near the front?"

Shadow nodded and stuck the reeds into the dirt. By now, Rex and Tala were gone, probably to go hunt or something before the sun went down, which was soon. Our greenhouse looked pretty nice, if I do say so myself. Claire took some white powder out of her bag and sprinkled it on the melon seeds, which made them immediately lengthen into large gold vines and each sprout one emerald green watermelon block.

"Let's just leave those there for now," Claire said. "And I'm hungry. C'mon, Shady, let's go have a romantic dinner or something!"

Shadow gave me a help-me-please-say-something face, but I playfully waved as he got dragged by the wrist back into the house.

By now, the sky was turning a bright orange-yellow, making the surface of the leaf blocks gold. I decided it was best to leave the happy couple alone, so I sat down on one of the melon blocks and watched the sunset.

"Mind if I join you?" A voice said behind me. I turned around and was surprised to see Will standing at the doorway, gold dust on both of his hands.

"I finished the Aether portal frame and got rid of the obsidian," he said, sitting on the other melon block next to me. "I also made a little sign... for Zoea. It's sad that she died."

"Yeah..." I sighed. "But... if our theory is right, why would the Enderdragon suck people into Minecraft then make them die? Can it bring them back to life or something?"

"Dunno," he replied, turning his head when a creeper spawned next to a tree about fifty feet away. "Maybe she's building an army of zombies?"

"Nah, too easy to kill," I joked. "Try ghasts."

There was a loud laugh from Claire back in the house, and we both turned at the same time, bumping heads. "Aaah!" Will yelped, his glasses falling off of his face and onto the ground.

I rubbed my head and picked them up. "Sorry," I said. The glasses were narrow and rectangular, and very thin, to not look too nerdy. Out of curiosity, I put them on. They were a little too big for my face, and they made my eyes hurt.

"Can you still see?" I asked Will, who looked a lot different with no glasses on.

"Yeah, they're for seeing far away," he replied, rubbing the side of his head where I had hit him accidentally. "You, uh... look..."

"Nerdy?" I tried to center the glasses, but they tipped over on the other side. "Argh, these don't fit me..."

"No, that's n-not what I meant..." Will stuttered, his face turning red. He hasn't done that in a while. "I m-meant... uh... you..." Dammit, why were you so adorable?!

"Go on..."

"You look... really cute..."

"Huh?" That wasn't what I was expecting, although it was pretty obvious, looking back a few seconds. By now he was looking down, his cheeks as red as a dying cow. Wait, that was bad. Uhm... as red as spider eyes? No. As red as Rex's eyes when he gets really pissed off?

That'll have to do.

"Uh... thanks?" I replied. "You can look up now. I'm not mad."

He did, his face now a bright magenta. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that... It's just... like, I'm..."

"Oh, shut up." I laughed. "You're stuttering."

"Yeah, I know." he muttered. "Um... are we still dating to make Shadow mad?"

Another laugh from inside, this time from Shadow. "Nah. It's not working. And... well... maybe..." Shoot. Now I'm not able to talk.

"Maybe...?" Will raised his eyebrows. Wait, when were our faces this close to each other? No. No nononono.

"I don't know, maybe we should... like, if everyone I meet dies eventually, then why don't we..."

"Cherish the time we have now?"

"Wh-"

Then suddenly our lips were together and Will's glasses were sliding off my face but none of us cared and his hand was in my hair and my arms went around his neck and ohmygodohmygodohmygod-

We broke apart when we heard the soft tinkle of Will's glasses falling and landing in the small trench of water. "Woah..." I breathed, bringing my hand up to my mouth as Will reached for his glasses.

He put them back on his face, water dripping off of them, and looked around, his face turning bright red again. "Uh... well, I'm gunna go... hunting. Okay? O-okay." He then broke the glass in the side of the greenhouse and ran off, probably embarrassed out of his mind.

I laughed a little, then sealed up the two blocks he broke with more glass and headed towards the door. But something in me made me stop and listen through the window.

Claire and Shadow were standing up in the center of the house, Claire's face very uncomfortably close to his.

"C'mon." she said, a very girly pout on her face.

"No." Shadow folded his arms.

"Please?"

"No."

"You gotta."

"No I don't."

"C'mon. You should have at least half of the tree by now if you're REALLY making stained glass. You have to tell me." Claire smirked.

"I do not!"

"Fine then," she huffed. "But I'll only stop bothering you on one condition."

"Okay, what is it?"

"You have to kiss me."

Shadow's face went blank. "...What?"

"All this time we've dated and you've never kissed me before. You've never even held my HAND. You gotta. I'm going to keep being a bitch unless you do."

He bit his lower lip, then leaned down and gave her a small peck on the nose. "There. You happy now?"

"F minus, Shady," Claire growled. "You can do be- MMF!"

Out of frustration, most likely, Shadow mashed his lips against Claire's, his hands digging into her hair. She threw her arms around his neck and lifted one leg as if she were in a Broadway musical, then they finally broke apart, for air more than anything.

Claire grinned and leaned in for another, but Shadow pushed her away suddenly, stepping back. "What the-"

Her eyes widened. "Uh... I have to go," she cried, stepping back and running out the back door, into the forest.

I punched through the glass blocks and ran after her, the dark moonlight-shimmering trees whizzing past me. "Claire?!" I yelled, but she kept running, her aurora-streaked hair waving behind her like crow's wings.

She slowed down to catch her breath, so I slowed to a walk. "Claire?" I said, quieter now that I was closer to her. "Something wrong?"

My cousin whipped around.

Wait... what the hell?!

* * *

><p>Mwahaha. Cliffhanger. Hang on a cliff, my pets. HANG.<p>

Okay. Um. So. The survey! If you answered all the questions I would love that very very much. (That means do it.)

1: What is your favorite line in the story? Doesn't have to be dialogue, it can be a description or something Adeline thinks. And why do you like that line?

2: Which part of the story is your favorite? The action, adventure, romance, mystery, or suspense?

3: I'm closing the poll, but if you haven't voted yet, I'll tell you here. When TMD is over I'm going to write it again but in a different character's point of view. Which character would you want: Shadow, Cameron, Squirt, Rex, Zoea, or Mr. Spider? Or someone else.

4: If you look on my dA page, I have an entry in my journal full of official pairing names. Which pairing(s) do you like the most?

5: There will be many plot twists in this story (Shut up, MechanixAngel ;) ) What kind of plot twist would make you shrivel up and die?

And 6 (Optional): Should I make an official Twitter page for The Miner's Destiny? And would you follow it?

Woot! Answer these please! XD I'm dying to hear your answers!

And now for the questions. Remember: If your review is only questions, I will ignore it. Don't be mad. :c

**Shadow: farm the Netherwart! Farm it! FAAAAARM IIIIIT!**

Shadow: Farmed it. :D

**Computers: how does it feel to have people sucked into you?**

Computer: 01010100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01100001 01101001 01100100 00101110

**Magma Cube whose name I forgot (It's Splish. XD): awww yeah, hot slime-on-slime action.**

Splish: Eh? o_O

**Timothy the pickaxe: do you bully other pickaxes around because you are bigger than them?**

Timothy: No, for I am a noble pick and do not bully other weapons. :)

**Sploosh and Tala: How does it feel to have your owner die within a few hours of meeting Adeline? What would you say to all the other pets out there that haven't met the group?**

Sploosh: I'm sad because Master Squirt died, but Adeline is a good master too. c: And I would like to say to the other pets, you're going to have a lot of fun!

Tala: I agree with Sploosh because I miss Mistress Zoea but now she's gone so I shouldn't think about the past anymore right?

**Tala: Do you have any memory of arriving in the Nether? If so, was your previous owner someone notable?**

Tala: I don't think I had an owner before Misress Zoea came along but I don't really remember.

**Herobrine: TELL ME YOUR SECRETS OR DIE BY MY GOD DIAMOND SWORD DEMON **

Herobrine: Pitiful mortal. I'm not afraid of you.

**Whoever makes fun of Sploosh and teases him: SHUT UP AND BURN IN THE NETHER FOR AN ETERNITY WHILE A PIGMAN EATS YOU SLOWLY WITH A SPOON! **

I can't answer this because the guy is a real person. XD

**Notch: *grabs gun* MAKE THE UPDATES COME FASTER**

Notch: All in good time, my friend. Violence does not solve everything.

**Claire: How do you ride on an animate column of smoke? O.o**

Claire: Well, the middle of the blaze is the core, which is solid, so...

**The blazes: I LOVE YOU GUYS! :D Please don't kill me... anyway, are you guys machines or as organic as columns of smoke with heads on top can be?**

Blazes: We love you too! :3 And we're as organic as the trees in the overworld, thank you very much!

**Magma Cubes: Y U DROWN YOURSELVES IN LAVA? D:**

Magma cubes: WE DON'T DESERVE TO LIVEEE

**Notch and Herobrine: Are you two going to be okay? I'm really worried about you guys. :(**

Notch: We'll be fine. It's not like they can kill us or anything, we're gods for... my sake.

**To Zoea: Are you alive? I really hope you are.**

Zoea: Nope! As dead as a block of cobblestone. :c

**To Sploosh: You are very adorable! When I saw my brother play on Superflat, I yelled "HEY IT'S SPLOOSH!" when I saw a little slime. When he killed it, I yelled "NOO SPLOOSH NOO!" I saw loads of your relatives all killed by Splash Potion of Harming II and his extended bow. Sorry about that... just wanted to share the news...**

Sploosh: Oh, stop it, you. :3

**To Timothy: Do you feel better that your killer named his awesome pickaxe after you?**

Timothy: Oink? (Sorry, he's a bit dumb.)

**Rex's booties (again :D): Is the back left boot derp or something?**

Booties: Yes. Very derp.

**Rex: Do hope to have pups with Tala someday? **

Rex: Woah I never thought of Tala as a potiential mate but if she liked me that way then I guess so.

**Tala: Same as Rex.**

Tala: Ew that's gross Rex would not be a good father because he is too hyper and dumb.

Rex: Hey! D:

**Herobrine: Are you the one taking blocks out of my world?**

Herobrine: Possibly... *trollface*

**Rex: Dont you wolves spawn in packs? Do you miss your bros and sisters?**

Rex: Yes but that is too personal for me to talk about.

**Creeper: How does it feel when you're supposed to blow up people, but instead they blow up you?**

Creeper: It'sssss exxxxtremely obnoxxxiousssss...

Phew! So as usual, be sure to check out my deviantART page, TheMinersDestiny, and if you like make an account to comment on my stuff. It's free! :D It has lots of art, lots of cool facts, info on how the story is going, and tons more!

So let us close this chapter by saying the following in Tobuscus' voice. If you've read this chapter, bless your face. If you sneezed during this chapter, bless YOU! Peace out! BOOP!

PLASMAAAAAA! *smokebomb*

FMF


	17. Suspended Islands

Okay, okay, okay. I know I apologize every single chapter, but this time I got a legit reason. So one day, sweet innocent little FMF opened up Wordpad, and Ch. 17 was completely, utterly gone. I was about a third of the way through. So after a good cry, and quite a bit of kicking, I redid it, and I have to say it ended up better than the last version. :) So I use Google Docs now, and I will never even LOOK AT Wordpad again.

Thanks for answering my survey, I won't have one this chapter, but it helps me know what to write. :D And what you guys like. So thank you kindly!

And now I announce the final winner of the OC contest! It is... MechanixAngel's character Chris! :D Bravo, well done, congratz! But I seriously love him.

So I was actually aiming for 10k words, but only ended up getting 7.5. Not including the A.N and the questions. That's okay though, I feel like I wrote a million. Phew... anyway...

Replies to Reviews!

exb756: I'm honored! :) Thanks exb!

Sea of Fire: Haha, thanks! :D

thefallenkingofend: Thanks for answering! :)

RupeeofMadness: Are they now? :D

Anthai11: Thanks!

ShelbyJohnson: Will do!

silver rosebud: Haha thanks! :)

penstrokenxay: A rebel, you say?

HarryPotterEncyclopedia24: Thanks!

Have a Little Feith: I like to torment people. :3

Chris Ahrens: But they did kiss... and that sounds really awesome! :D

MechanixAngel: I skipped your question? I'm so sorry! D: And you're welcome~ :3

thefinalhero7000: Yes, you are emotionless. And thanks! XD

damanlyguy: It was probably because that was the only thing in your review. And they did apply bone meal.

Curtisimo: As you should, since your character is still in it. :) And thanks!

7: You! :O And thanks!

CyanSkies: Haha, thank you! :)

Invader L: Thanks. XD

Night wl: It's okay :)

enirboreH: Interesting theory.

Marceline: It's a long story. Say hi to Finn for me! :)

Mellifluousness: You're so immature, you're gunna have to learn to like kissing. XD And thanks for proofreading. I fixed everything. Sorry for using American spelling. D: And you ship MoonAngel? Nice to know...

Eta7400: Why thank you! :D

SwordOfFlames: Hahahaha XD And thanks!

Xandora: Another long reviewer! Yay! :D And thanks!

Cryptid1399: Haha thank you! :D

Creepers rock: Very carefully.

AstuteSage19: Thanks. :)

You know what I've forgotten this entire fic? I don't own anything! Minecraft, Notch, the songs. Just the plot and characters. I'm lucky I didn't get my butt sued off...

Anyway, enjoy! :)

EDIT: Corrected Will saying he was the girlfriend of Adeline... oops.

* * *

><p>Chapter 17: Susp<strong>END<strong>ed Islands

Claire and I didn't talk for a while after the... incident. Nobody else bothered to ask what happened, probably figuring it was best not to ask when I ran screaming back into the house and had small nightmares under my sheets.

Just thinking about it made me shiver for days afterward.

Anyway, the next day Will came back from whatever he was doing, along with Rex and Tala, now happy from killing innocent and not-so-innocent creatures all night. I suppose that was their idea of partying. Better than drugs, I guess.

Splish the magma cube and Sploosh became fast friends and spent most of their time eating mushrooms down in the mineshaft. They didn't go far, though, neither of them could swim. That was the problem with slimes, Will told me; when they spawned they often jumped straight into water (or lava) and drowned. Pity, they're so cute.

During the days following up to went we went to the Aether, we built a small enclosure for Baelfire the blaz, so he wouldn't burn the entire forest down. It was fairly large, in case he ever went back to his original size (I still don't know why he shrunk.) and it was made out of stone brick, obsidian and iron bars. Claire visited the blaze a few times a day, and apparently they don't need to eat. Good thing, too, I didn't want to fling whole cows or ten chickens over the bars.

It had been a few days since that night, and since then we didn't really do much. Mostly mined, gathered food, supplies, and the like. We were thinking about building that portal to the Aether, as Will destroyed the Nether portal so we didn't have to go there again. He had gotten enough glowstone from there to build the same-size frame and probably make a few lamps.

"So..." Shadow started about a week after all this crazy stuff happened. "is the Aether as dangerous as the Nether? Will's book makes me think it's not, but you never know..."

"Let's assume it's filled with death and crushed dreams," I answered. "So our goals are getting to the Valkyries and having them tell us how to kill the Enderdragon. And... I need a new sword. Silverdart is broke."

"Maybe I should get something too..." Shadow added. "Potions are rare and hard to make, and I don't know if you can make them in the Aether."

"All these questions are making me want to go make a portal!" Claire exclaimed. "Let's go. I wanna go right now."

"Calm your jets, Rainbow-head..." I retorted. "We should take a moment to read up on things... Will, where's your book?"

"Uhm..." Will stood up from his bed and rummaged through the chest next to it. "Right here. You want it?"

"Yeah." He gave it to me and blushed when my hand brushed against his. I opened it, ignoring that, and flipped to the section describing the Aether.

"So... apparently the Aether is located hundreds of chunks above the Overworld, so high up you'd suffocate to death before you could pillar up to it. So you use a portal instead, made out of glowstone and a bucket of water.

"Everything there is completely different, and you have to act as though that was where you came from, because Overworld tools do almost nothing there. For instance, instead of wood there is Skyroot, and instead of smooth stone there's Holystone. For more details on blocks... yeah."

"So we shouldn't bring our tools?" Shadow questioned.

"Uh... let's bring diamond picks, just to be on the safe side. Will can bring Timothy and Claire can bring her bow. I'm pretty sure weapons are still effective."

"Its name is Stephano," Claire declared. "Stephano the Blaze-Rod bow. Not "my bow". Jeez, woman, get it right," she huffed jokingly.

I laughed, and turned the page. "So... the most common mobs are phygs, which looks like pigs but have large gold wings, flying cows, uhm... swets, which look like blue or gold slimes, and... there's nothing else here?"

"Yeah, about that..." Will muttered. "I haven't finished that part yet. I didn't get the time. That was when my house got blown up by a creeper."

Rex laid his head on my lap and I scratched him behind the ear. "Oh, that's too bad. Guess we'll have to find out for ourselves then? We all ready to go?"

"Can we take Baelfire?" Claire requested. "He'd probably be nice to have around in case we get into trouble. Splish and Sploosh would probably have a lot of fun too."

"Okay, sure," Shadow answered. "Just make sure he doesn't burn down the house." He checked his toolbelt. "Okay... I have some pork, splash potions and regular potions... some spare blocks, but we'll probably get our own there...aaaand, yeah. Since we have to get completely new stuff there we don't need much."

"I got some diamond picks if they work well there," I said. "And some food. No weapon, because apparently they have much better metals up there."

"Are we ready to go?" Will asked, lifting the hefty stone pick over his shoulder and almost taking out one of the windows. Before Claire could reply, he added, "After you get Baelfire."

Claire jogged outside to get her pet blaze, and I flinched as Splish and Sploosh jumped into my backpack, making it at least ten pounds heavier. Splish was at least twice as big as Sploosh, even though the little slime was growing bigger every day.

Tala and Rex became impatient and ran downstairs to wait for Claire to come back. It wasn't for at least five minutes that she did. My cousin was sitting on top of Baelfire's... core... part, where the face was, even though her feet almost touched the ground.

"Ready to go!" she cheered, jumping from Bae. He let out a growl of affection as Claire stroked the top of his... core... (that sounds so weird.). "Is the portal ready?"

"The frame is," Will said, standing up and glancing at me as he did. "We just need to fill it with water."

"I got a bucket," I said, even though I had no idea how I would fill a vertical frame with water. "Let's go down, Rex and Tala are already down there."

I led the way down the stairs, Claire bringing up the rear by carefully leading Bae, a living fire hazard, through the wooden part of the house. And as I suspected, Rex and Tala were sitting on either side of the empty portal. Rex looked excited, Tala a little bored. I wasn't sure she liked me that much.

Anyway, I took the bucket out of my backpack and carried it over next to the frame. "I have no idea what I'm doing..." I mumbled. "Here goes..." Then I tipped the bucket over.

The water, instead of just pouring out onto the floor, began to defy gravity and swirl up the sides of the frame, eventually filling up the space and starting to shimmer, emitting light blue mist. It still looked like water, it was rippling, but water didn't sparkle.

"That was cool," Will exclaimed before pushing me forward. "You go first."

I bit my lip, thinking of the unpleasant sensations happened when I went through the Nether portal. Maybe going through it was painful because it was Hell we were going to?

I stepped forward, took a deep breath, and walked onto the blue-filled frame.

The water felt cold around me, but I didn't get wet. I gasped as my vision started to ripple and an odd tingling feeling coursed through my body, then the sensation of being yanked upwards.

My vision became a screen of bright sky blue.

~(|)~

Upon stepping out of the portal, I exhaled sharply at the scenery that surrounded me.

I was on a small floating island, on the edge of a second larger one. There were others of all different shapes and sizes in the distance, almost not visible because of how far away they were. The grass was a cool mint green, and that and the white flowers everywhere gave the entire place a sweet, invigorating scent.

The trees had dark olive colored trunks, and the leaf blocks were a shockingly bright emerald-green. Sometimes there were other trees with shimmering gold leaves, but there were only one or two on each island. The terrain was very mountainous, and the stone was more silvery than the smooth stone back in the Overworld. Every so often in the cliffs there would be a whiter stone that looked a little like glowstone. Wrapping around the peaks were blue and clear clouds that looked like you could walk on them. And if I squinted I could see what looked like small black tornadoes moving around like they had minds of their own.

A small white rabbit with blue swirls in its fur nibbled at a purple flower, then looked up sharply and hopped away as it heard my friends walk out from behind me.

"Woah..." Claire breathed. "This place is amazing..."

"Like Adeline said," Shadow replied. "let's just assume it's full of death and crushed dreams. So... should we start getting wood before it gets dark?"

"Actually," Will corrected. "the sun never sets here. Some sort of spirit keeps the sun up. But sure, we can go get wood."

So we all took our places at a tree and punched it, giving me a very nostalgic feeling and about six logs. Once all the trees were gone we had about six stacks of planks total.

Shadow made a Skyroot pickaxe and swung it over his shoulder, which wasn't too intimidating because it looked like it was made out of cardboard. "I'm going to go get some Holystone, because I'm pretty sure smoothstone isn't going to craft anything," he declared. "Don't go too far without me, I don't wanna get lost." And with that, he walked off toward the nearest cliff.

One he became a tiny spot, I pretended to take a running stance. "Quick, let's ditch him!" I joked, and we all laughed. "No, seriously, we should keep moving. He'll know we went this way."

We all nodded in agreement and walked to the next floating island, which had a path of... Aether dirt making a small bridge connecting the smaller island to the larger one. I knew you weren't supposed to look down when going over a high-up bridge, but I did, and almost had a heart attack as I realized I couldn't even see Overworld clouds down below.

Being the paranoid owner I was, I carried Rex over the bridge, with Sploosh safely in my backpack. I didn't want my wolf to somehow trip on a blade of grass and become a small furry smear on the ground many, many chunks below.

Tala wouldn't let me pick her up, being the rebel she was, but luckily she didn't trip. Baelfire simply floated, and Splish wrapped himself around Claire's head. Somewhere along the line he had jumped out of my backpack.

The bridge was only a few blocks long, but it felt like I walked across it for two hours because of the risk of falling to my death. Once we had made it, though, I saw something in the distance.

It was a house, and a well-made one, too. The roof was made of Skyroot logs, and the walls of planks. Torches were placed symmetrically on its walls, but these torches were glowing with a golden-yellow fire.

As we approached it, I could hear a voice coming from it, singing rather loudly a song that I had never heard of, "_In the End~ I'm kicking down the door~ And I'm taking this over~ Too little, too late!~ In the End~ You'll be my light in the dark~ When the sun goes down~ When the sun goes down on_- huh?"

Before anyone even raised their hand to knock on the door he swung it open, the force blowing his dirty-blond hair back. His seafoam blue eyes were wide, one twitching slightly, and the green and black headphones around his ears - which weren't actually connected to anything - were askew.

It looked like he had suffered from Cabin Fever for a long time, but once he saw other human beings, suddenly he looked ten times more sane. "Heyo!" he exclaimed, his eyes still wide. Suddenly he noticed his bangs were in his eyes and flicked them out. "Do I know you?"

"Uhm... no," I answered. "We just came here, and..."

"Oh! You can stay with me!" He said, almost ecstatic at the very thought. "Come on in, my house is big enough!"

It sure was. We entered a lobby with waterfalls on each side and a ceiling full of redstone lanterns that he switched on with a lever near the door. Apparently he had not spawned in the Aether like Zoea did in the Nether.

He gave us a small tour, dancing around and singing various tunes under his breath as he did so, leading us through the kitchen - which was actually just a large wall of furnaces and crafting tables - and the living room - full of bookshelves containing various books about Aether lore - before he came to a small room with a green wool carpet.

"This is the bedroom," he said. "Feel free to place your beds, your chests, jukeboxes, that kinda thing. If you need me I'll on my way... to the KITCHEN!"

Before he made his way out the doorway, he made a very smooth about-face and said, "By the way, my name's Chris Tegel. Rhymes with seagull. But you should call me Mechanix, like the song. You know... _Whoever thought you'd be better~ At turning a screw than me~ I do it for my life~ Made my drive shaft crank~ Made my pistons bulge~ Made my ball bearings melt from the heat~ Oh yeah yeah!_"

And with that, he danced out of the room, humming what I presumed was the rest of the song. Claire made a funny face at him as he spun out.

"That's a... really dirty song..." she commented. Laughing, she added, "I wonder if he even knows what it means, it's so metaphorical..."

After thinking about the lyrics and laughing, then placing our beds down and putting important items into small chests, there was a knock on the door.

"Hold on!" Mech (his new nickname) called, and he hummed his way to the front door. He looked through the window and shouted, "Anyone know a suspicious looking guy with black hair and a grey hoodie?"

"Yeah, that's Shadow," Will answered, so Mech opened the door. Immediately Claire flung herself at him and tackled him in a cat hug, squealing "SHADY!"

"Hey," he mumbled, looking straight ahead as his girlfriend hugged him.

"Yes, yes, very romantic," Mech said very sarcastically, as if he didn't think they were dating at all. "I think we need to introduce ourselves. I'm Mechanix, I like music and singing and... mining... because I got warped here."

"I'm Adeline," I told Mech. "And... this sounds weird, but I have to kill the Enderdragon and save the world and stop it from building an army out of people on Earth. At least... that's what we think it's doing..."

"That does sound weird," Mech scratched the back of his head, then pointed at Claire Phoenix-Wright style. "You! Rainbow-head! Next!"

"That's the second time I've been called that..." Claire growled. "Alright. I'm Claire, I love Pepsi and ice cream and killing things with my bow, Stephano! And this is my boyfriend Shady."

"Right. I'm Shadow," Shadow said awkwardly, trying not to make eye contact with Claire, who was looking at him like he was a cute toy poodle. "And I... like brewing potions, and... yeah."

"How is it," Will said curiously. "That you brew all these potions but don't actually have a brewing stand?"

"Oh," Shadow pulled a weird test-tube rack thing, which I guessed was the brewing stand. "It's valuable, I don't want it to get stolen. I just place it when I need it then put it away."

"...I think you just doubled my IQ," Will said. "I'm Will by the way. Lava survivor and boyfriend of Ms. Chosen One."

"And the animals outside are Rex and Tala the wolves," I added. "Splish and Sploosh the magma cube and slime respectively, and Baelfire the blaze."

"Woah woah, hold up," Mech gaped. "Did you just say... a blaze?! Like, giant monstrosity of smoke and fire and blaze rods that fire at you and try to blow you into a million fiery pieces?!"

"That's the one," Claire said. "Don't worry, he's a cupcake. He wouldn't hurt a chicken."

"Well, come sit in the living room," Mech said awkwardly, a bit scared by the thought of having a blaze as a pet. "Let's rest here before doing anything else, you guys look exhausted."

~(|)~

"So, what do you guys have to do again...?" Mech asked, stretched out of one of the couches, his arms behind his head. "All this stuff you're spouting sounds like a loud of dirt, if you ask me."

"Well," Claire began, rolling around with Splish on the carpet. "The Enderdragon is believed to be sucking people from Earth into Minecraftia, where they get killed and turned into Endermen. Then it'll build an army-"

"Wait, wait," I held up a hand. "First of all, I'm the one that has to do everything, so I should explain, and second, they're turned into Endermen? We never talked about this... where did you hear that?"

There was an awkward silence. "Uh... I thought... well, Notch sent me a dream! He told me!"

"Right, and not me, the chosen one," I narrowed my eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, we've gathered the blaze rods for the Eyes of Ender and got here, where the Valkyries are going to tell us how to kill this thing."

"Valkyries?" Mech sat up. "Like, the smoking-hot blond girls flying all over this place with the swords and armor and makeup?"

"Probably," Will said. "Do you know anything about them?"

"Not much," Mech sighed. "Since I got here they've barely looked at me. I guess they're too wrapped up in whatever they're doing, scouting, texting, whatever?"

"Speaking of which," Shadow said. "How _did _you get here anyway?"

"Well," the music savvy began. "I got home from school one day and turned on the old desktop, then put on my headphones and listened to music while I played Minecraft, but I got killed by Endermen outside of my house. When the "You died" screen showed up I blacked out, then woke up in a tundra biome with my headphones still on. I almost froze to death, but here I am! And, I had weird dreams along the way too..."

"Like...?" Claire's voice was muffled as her entire face was now inside her magma cube.

"This guy with a cool hat named Notch told me about this whole thing, and that I was supposed to protect somebody, but he never got to tell me who, because ... it always ended. Of course, that's how it always works." He threw his arms up. "You can't just learn _everything_, you have to know just a little bit then they leave you hangin'! Of friggin course!"

"Yeah... they like suspense, don't they?" I mumbled. "I think Notch and Herobrine like to watch us suffer."

"Oh, I almost forgot," Shadow took something out of his toolbelt, which turned out to be the green-and-purple cockatrice feather he had found a while ago. "Do you know anything about this?"

"Oooh!" Mech said, taking it from him. After opening a rather large book, it looked more like a magical tome, from one of the shelves, then coughing out a large waft of old-book smell, he flipped to a page with a sketch of what looked like a large, toothy flamingo.

"A cockatrice feather is what you have!" Mech declared, waving it around like a wand.

"Well, I know that," Shadow mumbled. "I mean, what else?"

"Hmm..." Mech examined it, then looked at the page. "This came from a female, as you can see by the largeness and the shininess and the prettiness, and it's a wing feather. It's too intact to have fallen off naturally, it looks like it was plucked... And the poison sack is still intact _here_," He pointed at a bulbous part near the tip. "Not sure how you managed to keep that from bursting, but this is a mighty fine specimen, if I may say so! Where did you get this?"

"I found it," he said. "A while ago, it was just laying on the ground."

"Interesting," Mech said, like a scientist pondering how the universe was created. "Who would pluck a feather off of a cockatrice and throw it over the edge of the island? Unless she plucked the thing off herself, but..."

"Maybe it got hurt?" Claire said happily, not really affected by our whole conversation. "And we can go fix her up and tame her like I did Bae?"

A growl from outside confirmed my cousin's statement, plus the... flapping of wings? And a second knock on the door?

Mech was about to look through the window and identify the other person when they threw the door open, driving the poor music-geek into the wall.

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen!" The girl said. She looked a little like your common cheerleader, long wavy blond hair, blue eyes endowed with eyelashes that looked too heavy for her glittery eyelids to hold up... except for her silver armor that shone like a mirror and was painted with shiny azure swirls.

And of course, the giant curved sword strapped to her back made of the same material. And the giant white wings that looked like they would fit better on a pegasus.

She took out a scroll. "Do any of you guys know of people named the following: Ad... Adele..."

"Adeline..." I muttered. I hated it when people mispronounced my name.

"Yes, right. Adeline Jones, Claire Willows, Shadow Donovan, Willheim Cur...tiss... Curtis... thingy... and Christopher Teg-"

"Mechanix!" Mech corrected. "Whoever thought you'd be bet-"

"_Moving right along_," the girl snarled, making all of us stiffen at her very horrifying personality change. "Seeing as how you all corrected me on the names, I am assuming you are those people, am I correct?"

"Very c-correct, ma'am..." Will squeaked, fixing his glasses.

"Good," the girl suddenly went back to her friendly nature. "As you all probably know, our Lord and Master Notch is... unavailable..."

"Uh, pardon me for asking..." Shadow lifted a finger, bracing himself for a second bipolar action. "But who are you?"

"I'm glad you asked!" The girl did a full spin, which looked hard with those shiny, slightly high-heeled boots, then lifted one leg and her sword into the air and spread her wings. "I am one of the Valkyries, supreme messengers and deliverywomen of Lord Notch, speedily informing all of Minecraftia about the latest happenings and updates in this wonderful, wonderful world! We also defend the Aether from ferocious creatures, and I'll have you know this armor is not just for looks, and this sword is made of a mixture of iron and diamond, plus it's polished with ghast tears every morning: not cheap! And if you order now, you'll get not one, but TW-" she stopped herself. "Sorry, got a bit carried away there. But yes! By the way, My name is Acuity, I'm the lieutenant. You can tell by the blue streak in my hair, right here."

"...Uhuh," I absorbed all of this sudden information, a little bewildered. "So... keep going. Notch is unavailable."

"Indeed he is. And we Valkyries are _much_ too busy to be able to defend our dimension, so a bunch of large and scary creatures somehow found their way into the bronze dungeon!"

"More like too busy putting on makeup..." Claire mumbled, and suddenly found the tip of a very pointy and very scary-looking blade almost touching her nose.

"INSULT OUR SUPERIORITY ONCE MORE AND I WILL GO HOME WITH RAINBOW HAIR EXTENSIONS!" Lt. Acuity roared, and the power in her voice was enough to blow Claire's hair back slightly and make Will's glasses fall off his nose.

My cousin's face was white as she made a funny noise that sounded a bit like a pig that swallowed a jukebox.

"That's what I thought," the Valkyrie said cheerfully. "Anyway, there are buckets of beasties running crazy around the Bronze dungeon, which, for your information, is the dungeon that we store all of our armor and minerals in! Would you kindly help us get rid of them, pretty please with a Sheepuff casserole on top?"

"What's in it for us...?" Will asked cautiously.

"Hmm, let's see," The Lieutenant pretended to have to think. "Me and my other Valkyries will just... tell you how to defeat the Enderdragon and save the world? How's that?"

"Are you SERIOUS?" She could have said she would give me the new Pokémon game and ice cream for life and it would have the same effect. "Heck yeah! What do you guys think?"

Mech walked out from behind the door, his nose bleeding and probably broken. "I'b down wib' that..." he sniffed. "Egsuthe me..." he then walked with less spirit this time into the kitchen, probably to get a porkchop.

"Everyone else? Yes to helping the Valkyries get rid of the monsters?" I asked.

"I'm in," Will said, probably scared of saying no more than anything.

"Sure," Claire's face was still white.

"Okay," Shadow folded his arms.

"Thanks so much!" Lt. Acuity clapped her hands together. "Aside from

us spilling the reeds about all the Enderdragon's secrets, there's some treasure in the dungeon you can have..."

"Really? Like what?" I questioned.

"Uh... there are probably some gummy swets... and there may or may not be, oh... a set of PHOENIX ARMOR."

Our confused faces were not the reaction she expected. "Uhh... you know. Protection against fire?"

"Oh, right, cool," Claire replied.

Mech came back, his nose good as new. "So what are these monsters?"

"We aren't too sure..." the Valkyrie said. With a smirk, she added,"Our scouts Verity and Hope flew back screaming and refused to give us any details...

Well, nice talking to you five, I'll be at the Silver dungeon when you guys are finished! Get done soon!" She gave us an "or else" look and opened the door, then spread her wings and took off.

Mech gulped. "Was she joking?"

"Probably," Shadow shrugged. "They're most likely too scared to go into the dungeon, they actually look pretty snobby. You okay, Claire?"

The color began to return to Claire's face as she nodded. "Hey Mech, what kind of weapons do you use anyway?" She asked, her voice still a little high pitched.

"Hold on..." He ran into the kitchen and took a brown, one-shoulder backpack off of a lever, which I guessed he used as a hook. Attached to the front strap were sets of small dark blue knives.

"Lightning knives!" Mech declared, taking one out of the sheath and spinning it around his fingers. "Very useful, and you can reuse 'em... if they don't become embedded in the enemy's skull, at least..."

Sounded dangerous. And it looked dangerous when he took one and flung it at the wall, narrowly missing Will's nose. It made a very cool whistling noise when thrown, and once it stuck into the wood, a large spark burst from the tip and lit the floor on fire.

"AAH!" Mech pushed Claire out of the way and stomped on the fire with his black tennis shoe, putting it out. "That was stupid..."

"SO..." I cleared my throat. "Are we going or what?"

"Yup. Leaving," Will replied before the hugely talkative Mech could say anything. When we exited the house, we were greeted by a sign that read in very fancy handwriting, "Here's your ride! Have fun! ~Lt. Acuity"

Beside the cliff edge were three very large flying whales. Their crystal blue sides and grey back almost made them look like dolphins, if not for their whale-ish clunkiness. Their bellies were a lighter turquoise, and one of them looked at us and made a call that sounded almost like a choir of bells.

"Woah..." Claire breathed, running her hand down one. "These are really pretty..."

All of our pets, who had waited outside since we had entered Mechanix's house, followed us. Rex sniffed at one of the whales, which waved its flipper.

"Those are Aerwhales," Will said, flipping through his book. "They're invincible, and they usually just fly around eating Golden Pines, but I guess they'll let us ride them..."

"I'll go first!" Mech jumped onto one of the whales, singing under his breath, "_I lack their smiles and their diamonds~ I lack their happiness and love~ I envy them for all those thing-_"

"Are you sad?" I asked, climbing on the second Aerwhale, which made a content-sounding noise.

"No," Mech said, putting his headphones back on. "I just like the song. Sounds kind of Minecraft-ish, doesn't it? The diamond part, I mean."

"Yeah, sure..." I replied, smiling as Will climbed on behind me. Claire and Shadow got on the third one, meaning Mech had a giant flying whale all to himself.

"Uhh..." Shadow poked the top of its head. "How do we make it start?"

Claire kicked its side. "MUSH! ONWARD AND UPWARD!" Nothing happened, of course. The whale didn't even flinch.

"...Move... sesame?" I asked, without anything happening. "What the hell..." I stuck my thumb into its blowhole in frustration. The Aerwhale let out a startled howl, and jetted forward, almost throwing me off if Will hadn't wrapped his arms around my waist.

Shadow did the same thing, even though it probably wasn't the best way to make it move, and they passed us, Claire laughing at my beet red face.

"Let go..." I unwrapped Will's arms. "It's embarrassing."

Mech sped past all of us. "Hurry up, you guys, or I'll start singing again."

"Noooo!" I pretended to cry in horror, and we all laughed as I stuck my thumb into the blowhole again, making the Aerwhale speed up.

Rex and Sploosh were in my backpack, and Tala was on Will's lap, since she didn't like me very much for whatever reason. Splish was on top of Claire's head, enjoying the view, while Baelfire floated behind. Would Shadow ever get any pets? I didn't think he was much of a nurturing type...

Suddenly something whizzed by my head. Something cold.

Claire shrieked as a snowball hit her in the face, almost throwing her off of the Aerwhale. Giant cloud creatures with blue swirls mixed in their substance had begun to swarm us, their gaping mouths heaving balls of ice as our heads. Were these the Aether equivalent of Ghasts?

"Zephyrs!" Mech cried, narrowly dodging a frozen projectile. "They're a pain in the ass, anyone have a bow?"

"STEPHANOOO!" Claire gave a battle cry and took out her blaze-rod bow, firing an arrow at one of the monsters. Suddenly the arrow lit on fire and went straight into the Zephyr's mouth, making it splutter and tumble out of the air, becoming a puff of smoke on the land below.

"Nice shot!" Will called as Baelfire shot a blaze rod at the next one. It hit the cloud right in the side, and it make a _whoosh_ noise as it deflated like a balloon.

"GACK!" A snowball hit Mechanix right in the face, and in shock he let go of the Aerwhale's blowhole and slid off. I screamed as he fell off, and... grabbed its tail.

As we approached the next island, I saw something green fall from the edge. Whatever it was coming from was behind the mountain. A second and third... thing.. fell, and as I got closer, I noticed they were feathers.

"What's that...?" Will asked, making me jump. Mech got to the island first somehow, jumping off and shouting, "Victory! I am superior!"

"Oh, quiet you," I mumbled as I climbed off the Aerwhale, stroking its head. It snorted, probably mad at me for sticking my finger in its blowhole multiple times.

Rex hopped out of my backpack and whined as he peered over the edge, seeing nothing but space below. I scooped him up, and waited for Shadow to help Claire off.

"Woah! Hey guys!" Mech shouted, waving his arms. "Look over here!"

After Claire slid from the whale's slick side, we ran over, and were shocked to see what looked like a giant green bird sitting on the edge of the island between the two mountains. Its wings, or what was left of them, had purple tips, and jutting out of its beak were very sharp-looking teeth.

There were bald patches all over the bird's body, and it seemed to be plucking feathers out and dropping them over the edge of the island.

"Oh!" Shadow realized. "That must've been where I found that feather from... but why is it ripping its feathers out?"

The bird turned its head, and its eyes were filled with more emotion and sadness than I thought a bird could have. It let out a feminine-sounding coo, so I assumed it was a girl.

Shadow knelt next to it, and it growled. "No no no..." he whispered, and I was shocked when I heard his usually deadpan tone turn very caring. "I won't hurt you... why are you ripping your feathers out?"

The bird stood up, revealing a large nest made of Skyroot sticks and green down feathers. It was full of black pieces of egg shells, except for one large black egg sitting in the middle.

"Aren't Cockatrice eggs green?" Will asked to nobody in particular.

"Well, Cockatrices can breed with Moas," Mech informed. "So her mate must have been a black moa, which I've only ever seen once. Maybe it died? And all of her eggs but one got destroyed?"

"That makes sense," I whispered. "I mean, I'd be plucking out feathers too if my husband and kids all died..."

Shadow looked down, then took a piece of pork out of his toolbelt. "Here you go..." he said, nudging it towards the Cockatrice. "Let's leave, we can come back later, she'll eat."

We all looked back at the giant bird, which sniffed at the meat suspiciously, then slowly walked toward a small hole in the mountain. Rex and Tala sniffed around the entrance before turning to us and barking.

"Is this the Bronze Dungeon?" Claire asked. "Looks a little plain... guess it hides all the armor well."

"I still don't have a sword," I said. "Anybody...?"

"Here," Shadow handed me three of what looked like purple diamonds. "Craft these into a Zanite sword, it'll do for a while."

Mech just so happened to have brought his crafting table along, so I used it. The blade was shinier than iron, but it just didn't feel the same as Silverdart. It'd have to do for now.

Not even bothering to name it, I followed Rex into the entryway. The brave little wolf wanted to go first.

Once we got through the tunnel it opened up to a giant dark series of rooms that appeared to be made out of a stone-brick-like substance. Everything was eerily quiet.

I took a step, the heard a faint click. Gulp.

Something exploded, sending me screaming into a wall, then sliding about ten feet back down to the ground, landing on my shoulders.

"Ow..." Even though I was seeing everything upside-down, I could see what looked like a black slime with a glowing blue swirl as a face slowly hopping towards me. Was that what exploded?

Suddenly it burst into stone pieces, a pickaxe through its head as it vanished into smoke. A rugged hand, Will's, helped me up and gave me a porkchop to help with the wound on the side of my head. I didn't even realize half of my face was pouring blood until it stopped dripping.

"Those were Sentries," Mech said. "They're in Volume One of the book of lore... I've been in here briefly... but they chased me out. There are probably more, you might not want to step on those tiles..."

I didn't notice the glowing blue tiles on the floor. Gingerly stepping over one, I looked around, as the others did the same. Splish and Sploosh jumped off of our heads, luckily not landing on the tiles, and they hopped toward a room before jumping up and dow excitedly.

"Over here, Master!" Sploosh's voice echoed in my head, which scared me because he hasn't talked since we got here. "There's a creepy black thing on this platform!"

Huh? "Hey guys, over here!" I called, and they all turned. "The slimes found something!" Upon peering around the giant entry, I noticed they were right. In the center of the rather dark room was a platform, and on top of it was a large dark-grey cube.

"What... is that?" Claire was suddenly right behind me, and I jumped again. It was probably the darkness. "Can I touch it?"

"No," Shadow scoffed. "Let's light up the room first." He took out the same yellow torches I saw in Mech's house and threw some at Claire and I. "This is Ambrosium," he said, after seeing my confused face. "It's like coal. Zanite is like iron, and Gravitite is like diamonds, except they do a bunch of strange things. I found one block of Gravitite while mining and it almost floated away from me."

Floated away? I wasn't going to ask. We placed some of the torches, and I approached the giant gray thing, the air getting tenser with each step. What if it exploded like the sentries?

"_The things that we're concealing..._" Mech sang nervously. "_Will never let us grow... time will do its healing... we've g-got to let it_- WHAT IN THE NAME OF IRON MAIDEN?!"

The second I took out my sword, the grey thing opened its eyes. There was one electric blue, Egyptian-like eyeball on each side of its head, and it levitated up into the air, then zoomed toward me.

"WAAAH!" I dove out of the way, then tried to stab it. My sword bounced off it with a small "Clink!" Maybe it was made out of stone?

"Everyone use picks!" I shouted, trying to be brief, because I wasn't good at giving orders and running from my death at the same time. I took out a diamond pick I brought from home- Did I say home? The Overworld, and swung it.

This time a small chunk broke away from the whatever-it-was. Somewhere in the commotion Splish and Sploosh had ran away, probably realizing they weren't going to be of any use. Tala and Rex only made scratches in the monster, and they slinked off to one of the corners to cheer us on.

Baelfire however was proving to be very useful; his blaze rods managed to sink at least an inch into the thing's side, melting a lot of the rock. Will's pick was also doing most of the damage, but once one of its eyes was out and lots of rock was missing from its body, the rest of its eyes started to glow red.

"Oh Notch, it's pissed!" Mech shouted, and before he could throw a lightning knife, it ran right into him, sending him flying into a wall.

I gasped as I heard the dull thud of his body hitting the ground, but before I figured out if he was dead I took one last swing at the thing.

I must have hit the right spot, because suddenly its entire body shattered, leaving behind a bunch of Holystone blocks.

"Is Mech okay?" Claire shouted once the echo of its body hitting the ground was gone. She ran over to him and rolled his body over.

"Uhhhhgh..." he groaned, a black eye blossoming. "I hurt. But y'know... it's a good kind of hurt..."

"Yep, he definitely has a concussion..." Shadow diagnosed. "Here," he poured a healing potion into his mouth, which was leaking a little blood from a split lip. "Leave him for a few minutes to heal, let's look at the treasure."

The remains of what Will said from his book was a Slider, were heavy enough to show a set of trap doors leading down to something. Claire opened them and we all oohed at the chest inside it, which was the same color as the blocks around it.

"What's in my pocket...?" I fumbled around and pulled out a copper key. "Does this...?"

"Put it in, see if it fits," Will suggested, so I did, and sure enough, it turned. I opened the chest. Was this all the storage, or was the rest destroyed?

Probably the second one. I pulled out an orange helmet, chestplate, and plateskirt.

"Is this the set of Phoenix armor Lt. Aquity told us about?" I asked. It sure looked like a phoenix; the orange metal almost looked like it shimmered with an invisible fire, but it went away once I blinked.

"Where are the boots?" Claire asked rhetorically. "Did they get destroyed?"

"Woah..." Shadow pulled out a light blue staff with a gold handle. "What's this? Like a wand of some kind?"

"A cloud staff..." Mechanix walked over, rubbing his head. "You use it to summon these things called Cloud Guardians. It kinda suits you. Like, Adeline's the main melee attacker, Claire's the archer, Shadow's the squishy mage, Will's the tank, and I'm the ranged DPS! We're, like, the perfect RPG team!"

"...I have no idea what you just said," Shadow replied blankly. "But this is cool, I can use this when I run out of potions!"

Will took out a large book with a green cover. "The Aether Book of Lore, Volume-"

"Ooh, I need that!" Mech exclaimed, taking it. "For my collection. They're actually pretty fun to read, even though they look like encyclopedias."

"Wh-" I took out a small blue plastic packet and opened them. Small blue and yellow fruit snacks tumbled out. "What the heck?"

"Gummy swets, put them back," Mech informed. "They restore a ton of health. ...Says the book of Lore..." he added when we all stared at him. "I read a lot, okay?"

"That Valkyrie girl said to meet her at the Silver Dungeon, right?" Will said. "So we should probably go there... wherever it is."

Rex and Tala came out of hiding and I pet my wolf's head. "Yeah, sure," I answered. "Think Cloud Guardians can support your weight?"

"Maybe," Shadow said as we walked outside. Sploosh jumped into my backpack, almost making me fall over. "How do you work this?" Shadow grasped the staff with both hands, and suddenly white poofy things shot out of the rounded end and swept us off of our feet.

The Cloud Guardians were less than two feet long, and my legs dangled from the front of them, but I guess they worked well, because they flew up, and began to fly away from the island. The small clouds were actually going pretty fast for something of their size, so I relaxed, and enjoyed the view.

I looked behind me and saw the depressed green cockatrice standing up and crowing at us. Was it saying goodbye? Maybe, we'll probably visit it when - if - we returned from there. The islands became a blur as the Cloud Guardians sped up, and I began to daydream as I saw a gigantic Roman-esque building growing slowly larger in the distance.

* * *

><p>Phoo, you have no idea how much blood, sweat and tears I shed... well, maybe not blood or sweat but definitely tears. Anyway, Thanks for reading, hope you like Mech and his personality, I tried to pick characters with all different natures. I'll draw him on dA eventually for all of you DeviantArt followers. If you're not then I highly suggest you make a DeviantArt, even if you're a terrible drawer. You don't need to post art to have a dA.<p>

So yes! And now your questions are answered!

**Shadow: Beware of the roses. BEWARE OF THEM.**

Shadow: Uhm... okay? I'll do that...

**Adeline: What are you going to do now without Silverdart?**

Adeline: Probably make a new sword. I don't like this Zanite one at all, it doesn't feel right.

**Tara: You should, like, TOTALLY be Rex's mate; It's perfect.**

Tala: I already said Rex is too hyper and dumb and would probably end up eating any puppies we have because of his dumbness!

Rex: Why do you insult me it makes me sad. :(

**Adeline: You are a seemly noble person, do you have any plans for what to do after you save the world? Also, how do you pronounce your name, I'm having trouble with it.**

Adeline: Assuming I survive, I'm not sure. If somehow I go back to Earth I plan on going to college to be a veterinarian, but everyone wants to be a vet... come back to me later.

**Claire: Is it possible Shadow doesn't like you anymore? And btw, I also have a cousin Claire, what are your thoughts on that?**

Claire: Impossible! And that's cool that we share the same name! :) Say hi to her for me, because I'm stuck in this game.

**Claire: You OK honey? Don't worry, you'll always have me if you need a shoulder to cry on, beautiful :D**

Claire: FINALLY, someone that likes me! D: *tearful hug*

**To Duncan and Darcy: OMG YOU GUYS DARE ADBUCT NOTCH AND HEROBRINE? HOW DARE YOU! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT LATER. S***, OR I'LL KILL YOU PERSONALLY!**

Duncan: Just doing our job, sir/ma'am... o_o

Darcy: I'd like to see you try.

**To Will: Haha, nice one for the kissing! Again! KIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSS**

Will: ...well, now it's just awkward...

**To Herobrine: Y'know, Notch in real life stated that he doesn't have an undead evil brother, which is you, and there were several updates with the lines saying 'Removed Herobrine'. I wonder why... And P.S. I hear that this creature named the Slenderman in a mod is scarier than you...**

Herobrine: Notch in real life...? And don't talk to me about Slenderman, I still have nightmares... and I am a god of monsters and the night! It takes a lot to make me wet myself! Slenderman and rollercoasters are two of them.

**Question for Baelfire: What's it like being a big burning ball with metal rods floating around you? Do the blaze rods ever get annoying? Did the zombie pigmens' oinks ever annoy you back in the Nether? Did you ever meet Herobrine? Do you think glowstone is cool? Am I asking too many questions?**

Baelfire: It's actually quite fun, thanks. Sometimes they fly in front of your eyes, but usually no. If the oinks ever annoyed me I would shoot them. Yes, I have met Herobrine, because I was the emperor blaze, of course. I think glowstone is very elegant, and no, you are not. I don't mind answering questions.

**To Shadow: Are you the one who's been stealing Adeline's diamonds? If so *draws a deep breath* HOW DARE U! WHAT A POOR WAY TO REPAY TO ADELINE FOR SAVING UR MISERABLE LIFE IN THE BEGINNING!**

Shadow: ...why is everyone blaming me? o_o

**Notch: Why did you let yourself and Herobrine get captured?! YOUS ARE GODS! :(**

Notch: They snuck up on us, and I was distracted and didn't have my scrying globe in front of me at the time. :( Tea clouds your mind, I swear.

**Herobrine: Why do people think you are evil?!**

Herobrine: Probably my glowing eyes and dashing good looks? ;)

Notch: ...you're not funny.

Not as many questions this time, that's okay! :D I'll make sure the next chapter doesn't take as long! Bye guys!

**FMF**


	18. Turn Up Your Render Distance

**HEY! LISTEN! READ THIS!**

**Okay, I don't always make author's notes in bold, but when I do, it's because I have something important to say. So after the epilogue I'm going to do an extra chapter. It'll be a Q&A, and you can ask me whatever you want that confuses you/various things you wonder about the story, and I'll answer it no matter how spoilery it is or not. Some of your questions, if not most, will be cleared up in the last few chapters, so a few might not be answered.**

**Here are the rules:**

**DO: Ask me anything you want, point out plot holes, request something to happen, ask about a character's backstory, tell me how much you love the story. XD**

**DON'T: Be afraid to ask me something, ask if someone will die, ask me personal questions, ask innapropriate things. **

**ALSO: I am going to pick through the questions now, and I'm not going to post things that are: Random and have nothing to do with anything, rude to my characters, or have no/barely any review in them. So if yours doesn't get included, then either give me a nice review, or actually ask a question. And a fact: Questions that the characters answer will not affect how the story goes. So let's say Shadow didn't know Adeline liked him, then some douchebag went and outed her crush on him, just assume he still doesn't know. **

**THIRDLY: One of my real-life friends, bowtiesarecool. has written a story, titled The Minecraft Project. Please read and review, it would make her day. :)**

**Okay? okay. You may scroll past now, unless you've reviewed and wish to hear my reply. UNBOLD.**

Okay! I'm here again with another chapter! :D And it has taken even less time than usual, because I was very motivated. Blame my real-life friend, who is a big fan and has forced me to write. In a good way.

AND I GOT 400 REVIEWS OHMIGOODNESS. Shoutout to Xandora for being the 400th reviewer, and a second shoutout to exb756 for trying to be the 400th and ended up being the 401st. You tried. XD

I'm also working on a cover! :3 It's going to take a while though, don't expect it to be out for a long time.

Replies to Reviews!

SwordOfFlames: You will never know. :D Glad you like Mech!

Night wl: Thanks!

penstrokenxay: Yeah, I wanted to hurry up and get it done with.

exb756: Yes, the fourth paragraph. HURRAY FOR LOVABLE CHARACTERS! :D And you'll always be the 400th reviewer to me.

thefallenkingofend: Oh, stop it.

Sea of Fire: Nope, she's not. Nice prediction, though.

MechanixAngel: Put the finger down, honey, it's not healthy for kids to do that. And I DON'T hate Mech, he's too awesome. :3

PidgeonFligher: Yay, new fan! :D

Eta7400: Thank you! Don't you love secretly doing things? :D

HarryPotterEncyclopedia24: I'm your role model? :O Well... I don't know about that. And I'm sorry you got a flame, don't take it personally, they're just horrible people that try to get at you, okay? :)

Jman1900: The OC contest was done a long time ago.

Chris Ahrens: Shut up, it's thousands of chunks. XD And, hmm... I'm pretty much exactly like Adeline, except I don't have auburn hair and I'm not as brave. And I don't have guy troubles. Well, yes I do, but not as severe.

byJiggle: Mech's one of my faves, too. :D And thanks for the Chapter names!

Steve: Thank you, I love PewDiePie! XD And is there?

AstuteSage9: You annoy me.

bowtiesarecool. : Thanks bro. XD Reviewed your story, by the way.

N00blord: Go away, please.

creepers rock: Uh... I'm good.

Samurai360: Was? It's still in progress.

Xandora: Thank you! :D

eak60: You annoy me, too.

theminecrafter: Yes, Mech is pretty much MechanixAngel.

TOO. MANY. REVIEWS. *dies and is reincarnated because she's just that ninja* Okay, on with the story. :D

P.S. I don't own any of the songs sung in this story. Please don't hurt me.

* * *

><p>Chapter 18: Turn Up Your R<strong>END<strong>er Distance

"Pftoooo!"

I spat the dirt out of my mouth and stood up, wiping my face with my sleeve. The cloud guardians, once we stopped at the huge Silver dungeon, had vanished into mist under me, sending me flailing to the ground.

"Ouch..." I heard Will say next to me. "They could have given us a warning or something... that was a little rough."

Claire had, somehow, landed smoothly on her feet. Examining a grass stain on her bright blue jeans, she clucked disapprovingly and announced, "Well, we're here. Get up, peasants."

"Yes, Your Highness," Mech bowed jokingly, brushing flower petals off of his jeans. He must have landed in a patch of purple roses when he landed. "Whew, this thing is huge," he exclaimed, blocking out the sun with his hand as he looked at the dungeon. "It's more like a castle than anything."

And it was. I could barely see the top of the silver Roman-like building. The building that housed the Valkyries probably had at least a hundred unused bedrooms. It made me wonder how it was able to stand on a bed of clouds.

Shadow turned and noticed something behind a tree. "What's that?" he pointed at a large blue flower with purple tendrils coming from the bottom. It looked like it was waving in the wind, even though there wasn't any, like it was breathing.

"Can I touch it?" Claire breathed. Why was it that she wanted to touch everything? Before I could reply, she reached forward and poked a petal...

And was speared by a sharp purple dart that came from the center.

My cousin fell over, her face turning green. "SUNUVAGUN!" she screeched. "Why did I do that?!"

"Oh dear..." Mech shook his head. "You, my friend, are completely hopeless. Here," he took out a wooden bucket full of an electric blue goop. "Drink this."

"Wh-" Claire grasped it and sat up, then clutched her head. "Ugh... my head's spinning..." she tipped the bucket back and downed the entire thing in a few gulps.

"Well?" Will tilted his head.

Claire smacked her lips dramatically, then frowned. "...imagine the taste of a dead zombie."

"Right," I said.

"Then put it out in the sun for a few days, then put cocoa pods in it. And a raw chicken egg for texture."

I wrinkled my nose. "Sounds bad. Do you feel any better?"

"Loads," she got up. "Mech, what are you doing? That was a perfectly good flower before you ripped all the petals off."

Mech stuffed the petals into his backpack. "Aechor petals are used to feed Moas," he announced. "If I ever hatch a moa, I got food."

Rex and Tala sniffed at the now dead plant and ran to the entrance of the Silver dungeon. This place was so huge, so over-the-top, the Valkyries could be anywhere in here.

"You guys are chickens, I'll go first!" Claire danced around, apparently feeling a small burst of giddiness. "Onward!"

"Whatever..." I mumbled, following her. A blast of heat zoomed past me, making my hair fly up, and I was about to scream when I realized it was just Baelfire and Splish, running to catch up to their master. Whe way Splish moved was rather funny. Unlike the small hops that Sploosh did, he moved like a slinky, separating into many springy layers.

Will caught up to me. "This is a lot of fun," he said happily, his giant pick strapped to his back. "Glad I found you guys, otherwise I would never have been a part of this."

"Uhuh," I answered nervously, feeling butterflies in my chest. I shook them off. "How do you even carry that? It looks real heavy."

"It is..." Will said, unsheathing it and waving at me, making me fall on my butt in fright. He laughed and put it back it its scabbard. "Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you. Here," He held out a hand, and I grabbed it and he pulled me up.

He didn't let go for the rest of the trip.

Mech approached the large door, which looked very foreboding with its ornate golden handles. "I feel like knocking isn't going to make any noise," he said. "This is just too big to knock on."

"Wait, lemme try something," Shadow moved forward, his new cloud staff in his hands. He spun it around, and whacked the door with the large end of the wand.

Instead of a knock, there was a sound that was rather reminiscent of a gong. It echoed all around us and made the hairs on my arms stand up.

We waited for a few minutes, and we were about to try and open the darn door ourselves when a slip of paper passed under the crack underneath.

I unfolded it. "'We were waiting for you," I read out loud. "But you've come at a rather bad time. I'm not available at the moment, if you could find us up in the center tower that would be great. Hugs to everyone, Lt. Acuity.' Ugh! She's too busy curling her hair."

"Center... tower?" Will bit his lip and looked up. Of course, it was at the very top of the dungeon, a small tower with a flag at the tip like the quarters of a princess.

"Sounds like fun though," Shadow shrugged. "There probably aren't any monsters in here since the Valkyries guard it all the time. Let's go."

"One... two... three..." We all placed our hands on the door, including Rex and Tala. "PUSH!"

The two doors swung open a lot easier than I thought they would, and we all gawked at the huge lobby that opened before us.

It looked almost like a casino, the way everything was lit with a soft, sensual glow, and the floors were decorated with small yellow squares. It could have housed hundreds of people in just this room alone.

"It's a little creepy in here..." Shadow grimaced. "The air's really thick and it smells... like a dead person."

"I don't know what you're talking about..." I answered, sniffing the air. "It smells fine."

"Your nose is a little wacky," Mech shrugged. "Okay... so I'm thinking we just go up the center staircase and it'll lead us up to the center tower."

"It's never that easy, Mech," I shook my head, unsheathing my Zanite sword, which, even though it was temporary, I had named Amethyst.

The stairs spiraled upward in the center of the large room, and when I put my foot on the first step, a wave of nervousness went through me. I had a very bad feeling about this place. It was too quiet.

But I ran up the stairs, Rex trotting at my heels. Everyone else followed, Shadow trailing behind cautiously. Something caught my eye after a few flights, and I stopped to take a breath and to see what it was.

It happened to be a chest, sitting there out in the open. I stared at it, suddenly suspicious. As I had just told Mech, things weren't that easy.

"What are you waiting for...?" Suddenly Claire was right next to me. "Open it."

After gulping, I gripped the hinges and swung the chest open.

It had teeth.

"GAH!" I shrieked as the chest sprouted two stubby legs from underneath its body, lunging at me. I scuttled away, as the shock had caused me to fall over, clutching Amethyst tightly.

Will swung Timothy at the living chest, sending it flying into a wall, but it just got back up and bounced up and down, making its jaws snap. It jumped at me, its mouth wide open, and I sent Amethyst right down its gullet.

It went still and vanished in a puff of smoke, a chest block in its place. "Phew..." I sighed, sitting down as the block flew into my backpack. "That was a rush, wasn't it?"

Rex trotted over and licked my hand reassuringly. "Good dog," I mumbled, stroking his side. Tala sat by the door, looking impatient.

"Let's keep going," Shadow said, his cloud staff in his hands. "I'm pretty sure we're almost at the top."

"Are you sure?" Will looked up the stairs. "It looks like we're only about a third of the way there. But... Shadow, what was that you said about it smelling bad?"

"Oh... it was nothing," he waved it off. "It was just me. I thought I smelled something bad."

"Rex probably farted..." Claire pointed at the wolf, who barked in argument.

I began to climb the stairs again. "Yeah... I don't smell anything," I said. "This place gives me bad vibes though, it's just... empty. Like those scary movies where they go into a house full of zombies and it looks like there isn't anyone there?"

"Ooh, I love those!" Mech exclaimed. "Those movies are the best!"

"I don't like them," I shuddered. "But I guess we're gonna have to live one, if the bad feeling actually has something to do with this fortress."

Wait a second, where was Baelfire? Had he gotten stuck at the bottom?

Probably.

Anyway, we were almost at the top now, and it almost seemed quieter than it had originally been, if that was possible. I could see a door at the top, and it was sealed shut, like the Valkyries didn't want anybody coming in.

"Yeah, I have a feeling this won't end well.." Shadow said from a little way behind us. "What if the door doesn't open?"

"Then I'll make it open!" I took Amethyst and swung it against the door once I got to the top. It dented in the middle, but it didn't budge. Sploosh hopped out of my backpack and onto the floor.

"I'll scout ahead!" his voice said in my mind as he squeezed under the gap on the door. There was a pause, then I heard him squeal and slip back out.

"It smells bad in there!" he said. "Like sick!"

"Oh no..." I said out loud. "This doesn't look good. Anything else, Sploosh?"

"The room is dark," he added. "It's kind of scary..."

"Huh," I paused. "Will, run Timothy through that door. I can't make my sword go through."

"Stand back then," he replied, and we all pressed against the wall and braced ourselves as the farmboy took his giant pick and whacked the door hard. It went right through, of course, and as an added bonus, flung the door off its hinges.

Like Sploosh had said, the Valkyrie's quarters were dark, and nobody was in there. The windows looked like they were plugged up with Skyroot blocks, and there were papers everywhere, lots of them in loopy characters that I couldn't read.

"Careful, guys," I held out a hand. "Get your weapons out."

Everything was silent for a moment, then I spotted something on the floor that looked like a medal. I picked it up, seeing the word "Victory" engraved on the front of the gold emblem.

"Hey, look at this!" Shadow whispered, picking another one up.

"Woah, shiny..." Claire found three more in a corner.

Rex and Tala each dropped one at my feet, Tala making sure to cover every inch of it in drool.

"Here are two more," Will said, picking them up. "There are nine, but... where did they come from?"

Claire stepped over a pile of papers and peered over the desk. "Oooohh..." she moaned, covering her mouth. "Ew... ew... ohmigod..."

"What?" I looked over the desk, and almost gagged. The entire space between the desk and the wall was soaked with blood, and right in the middle was the body of a dying Valkyrie, most of her shiny armor torn off and her eyes leaking purple liquid. Her eyes opened, glowing a faint violet.

"Th- the disease..." she hacked. "It took everyone... we th-thought we were prepared..." She coughed out purple liquid, staining her mouth. "We thought... we were... safe...

"Take... those medals and hold- hold them up... against the door... talk to the Queen..." Her voice got quieter. "And this-this one..." her shaking hands grasped the chain of a tenth medal, and I took it from her.

"F-farewell..." the last Valkyrie moaned, closing her eyes and becoming a puff of smoke.

"Well," Mech said, swallowing. "I think I've lost my taste for Valkyries._ A goddess with wings on her heels_~" he sang mournfully.

"A bad time for singing, bro..." Claire said bluntly. "So... we hold these medals up against that door?"

"Here," I took them all in one hand and lifted the gold parts against the wall. Both the door and the medals glowed silver, and a path was revealed to a very elegant throne room.

Will walked in first. "Hello?" he called out, bracing himself as if he would get jumped by cave spiders any second.

A voice sounded at the back of the room. "No... leave, mortals, before I..."

I knew that voice. "Lieutenant?" I called.

"Yes, it is me..." Lt. Acuity replied in a monotone voice, appearing from behind a wall of velvety curtains. She was in horrible shape. Instead of the higher-than-thou prance she usually had, her gait was to the side and slow, like a zombie. Most of her mirror armor was torn off, and lots of feathers were ripped off her wings. Veins of purple trailed down her arms, around her neck, and up around her eyes, which were the same color.

The most alarming part, though, was her sword, which was now dyed red.

"I killed them..." she said, her expression blank, almost giddy. "I couldn't control my limbs, they moved of their own accord, deliciously slicing through my subordinate's fragile necks, tearing their wings off at the base..."

I winced, stepping back as she walked forward, her head to the side. "What kind of queen brutally murders her subjects, hmm? Notch trusted me, now he's gone, off captured by the Elite band of Endermen and about to be taken to the new God... the Enderdragon, for she will rule all of Minecraftia with diamond claws and a heart as cold as obsidian. The Hero will leave it dead, but only the Chosen One shall shatter the egg, which resurrects the Dragon a fortnight after it is defeated, where it will only rise again... I cannot let my mistress be defeated, she will win!"

With a shriek, the delirious Valkyrie lunged at me, her sword narrowly missing my face. Amethyst's blade met the silver sword, and I pushed on it, sending Lt. Acuity tumbling to the ground.

With a flip much too elegant for the sick creature she had become, she landed back on her feet, but began to scream as both Splish and Sploosh jumped at her head. Sploosh wrapped around her face, trying to suffocate her, while Splish enveloped her sword hand, burning it with his hot lava insides.

With a roar, Lt. Acuity ripped my pet slime off of her and heaved him at a wall, which he stuck to. "Ow..." he said faintly.

An arrow from Claire narrowly missed her head as the Valkyrie stumbled toward me once more, shaking Splish off of her. Will decided to jump in, taking Timothy and attempting to whack the flat side of the pick into her chest.

She jumped back though, and with a laugh, kicked Will in the chest with her boot, making him tumble backward and land on his back, the wind rushing out of him.

With a very scary cackle, Lt. Acuity raised her sword...

And shrieked as Tala attached herself to her face. She dropped her sword in panic, and began to flail wildly as the wolf clawed at her neck, eventually hitting the right spot.

The Valkyrie Queen fell to the floor, her eyes returning to their original color. "Have... you ever seen an Aetherian sunset?" she whispered deliriously. "I've never seen one... the Gold Dungeon keeps the sun from descending... so... beautif..." before she could finish, she became a puff of smoke that vanished like mist.

"Ha..." I plopped down next to Will, who was still on his back, trying to get air back into his lungs. "You don't look too good."

"I'll be alright," Will got up. "It probably would have been easier if you remembered your Phoenix armor."

Oh. Right. That was still in my inventory. I took the garments out of my bag and held them up, admiring the shimmery orange metal. There was a very pretty helmet with wings on each side, like a phoenix I assumed, and the top didn't protect my arms, but had nice, thick shoulder plates. The plateskirt was a bit short, but very sturdy boots made up for the skin that it showed.

All in all, it was really pretty. "Uh, give me a second," I dragged the armor behind one of the curtains and changed into it.

The metal was actually lighter than I thought and very easy to move around in. I walked around in the boots, made a few attractive poses, then stepped out into the throne room.

"Well?" I gestured.

Will pretended to dramatically take off his glasses like the guys in movies, and I laughed. "No, seriously," he said. "You look hot. And I'm not just saying that."

"Oh, stop it you," I blushed. "Claire?"

"Not bad!" Claire reviewed. "Maybe if you had more curves..."

"Oh, shut up..." I sighed. "It's not my fault. It's comfy anyway. But these boots are a little clunky... I don't like these."

Claire shrugged, and walked over to one of the massive walls, where a very impressive painting was hung. It was very old and cracked, but I walked over and examined it.

There were lots of different people, but the obvious theme was the woman in the center, her face scrunched with determination and courage so detailed it was creepy. Her armor shone with an unnatural light, and her sword, which was almost too big for her scrawny arms, was held at an offensive angle.

What got me though, was her auburn hair, and her blue-grey eyes, which shone with a brave fire. And the golden glow that emanated from her body. Just like me.

"Hey, is that you...?" Claire put her finger on my - er, the girl's - face. "_They're all worshipping you...!_"

" No, that can't be me, she's too attractive," I joked. The other people in the picture were impossible to make out, and the only other thing that was quite as intact as the girl in the center was the humungous dragon, its wings the only reason the painting was big as it was. The eyes were an almost hyper-realistic purple, and the inside of its mouth was glowing the same color at the back, like it was just about to unleash a large fireball.

"This is really cool," Mech said. "But that looks like you! Maybe you're in some kind of prophecy or something! But, uh... are you glowing?"

"It's an aura," I explained. "It's the color of your soul, says the all-powerful and currently absent Notch. Mine's gold, which is, like, super rare, apparently."

"Huh," Mech went off to look at the other side, which consisted of nothing but the Enderdragon's wings. "Look, there's a thing under it..." He pointed to a dark, roundish shape under the dragon's belly. "It looks like... an egg?"

"Oh, I heard about that..." Will opened his book. "When I visited that village, the Elder told me some things..." he flipped to a page that didn't have any pictures on it. "Let's see, the Enderdragon has been in existence for a few million years less than the Gods, a little while after hostile mobs were created. Herobrine tried to kill it, but every time they try it just hatches back out of the egg with a new form. Or... shape."

"Like Doctor Who?" Claire suggested.

"...Yeah, kinda," Will said, only saying that so she would shut up. "And they couldn't destroy the egg. They don't know why."

"The Valkyrie said..." I began. "only the Chosen One would break the egg. And I'm guessing I'm the Chosen One... so... guess I gotta kill the dragon and make scrambled eggs."

"With our help, of course," Mech said.

"No, I'm gonna do it all by myself," I said sarcastically. "Just kidding, you guys can come."

Claire snorted, then jumped as Splish attached himself to her shoulder. Finally Sploosh peeled off of the wall and hopped into my backpack, which was stationed near the entrance. Tala was licking her wounds gingerly, and we all suddenly felt a wave of tiredness from the battle and sat down.

Suddenly there was a loud crash, and Baelfire burst through the wall, letting out a low growl. Apparently he had gotten stuck at the bottom of the stairs and tried a different path. He was a little late though.

He flew straight to Claire and nuzzled her, knocking her over instead. "You think we can all fit on him?" my cousin said, picking herself up.

"Ha, no," I laughed. "Maybe if he were still twenty feet tall. Why did he shrink anyway?"

"Who knows," Shadow shrugged. "So, uh, should I summon Cloud guardians again?"

"For what?"

"Didn't that Valkyrie say something right before she died?" He examined his staff like a kid looks at a chocolate bar.

"Oh, right..." I tried to remember what she had whispered. "Gold... dungeon? I think? Something along that line. I guess we have to look for a bunch of gold things."

"Speaking of gold, let's open up that chest!" Mech said excitedly. "Here, gimme the key, I wanna do it."

I gave him the small silver key, and he ran to the small chest that had materialized in frot of the throne. He turned it in the lock and the top swung open. After a pause, he mumbled, "Huh. There's barely anything in here. That's upsetting."

"What?" I looked over his shoulder. There were two things in the chest: an emerald green cape and a blue, silver and gold shield.

"Looks like Captain Aether left his shield here," Claire joked. "Okay, who gets what?"

"Dibs on the Agility cape," Mech called. "And, hmm... Will deserves the shield. He's the tank, so he needs to be able to absorb all the attacks. Adeline too, but she had a full set of armor, so she's okay."

Will picked the shield up. "Nice and sturdy..." he said approvingly, strapping it to his forearm. "Yeah, I can use this. So what's the cape do?"

Mech put it on. "Watch this..." He put the hood up and zoomed to the other side of the room in two leaps. "Wooooah. This is awesome!"

Claire's eyes were wide. "That seems... a bit like cheating."

"Cheating!" Mech scoffed. "You know what, you can just... sit down. Go away, I can do what I want without worrying about 'cheating'."

"Well, OKAY," Claire huffed, folding her arms. "Fine, go and hax and be a stealth god while we take all the hits from-"

"Okay, okay, break it up," I walked in between them. "Claire, why do you care, anyway?! Let's just leave."

"You're right..." Claire hopped onto Baelfire. "I'm sorry, I just think it's a little unfair that-"

"SHUT UP!" Shadow yelled, summoning Cloud guardians for the rest of us. "I mean... sorry, it's just..."

Claire looked hurt. "But... but... why did you yell at me, Shady, you're so abusive! God!" After we stared at her, she flipped her hair and added, "I'm just kidding. I'm not that dramatic. Omigod, you guys."

We all laughed, and I jumped as one of the cloud creatures swept me off of my... boots... and I landed on top of it. That always made me feel like I was going to fall off, but I couldn't really talk to whatever these things were.

They flew out the window, and I squealed in surprise as Rex jumped into my backpack, along with Sploosh. Tala decided to sit with Mech, I guess he was her new favorite. Will looked at me funny when I made the shocked noise, and I blushed.

"Woooooo!" Mech shouted. "Look, my cloak's, like, waving behind me. Don't I look boss?!"

"Yes, extremely," Shadow muttered, not even turning his head. He looked a little frustrated, probably because he was having girl troubles.

"Okay, so... we need to find a place with lots of gold trees," I said, looking around. "How do you make this this thing go higher?"

"I don't think you can," Will said. "We're pretty high up- Oh, wait... what's that?"

A small, round island floated past the rest of the others, in the middle of nowhere. All over it were bright gold trees that were a lot taller than plain Skyroot ones.

"Well, whaddya know," Mech slowed down. "Turn, O' Great and Superior Cloud Guardian!" Surprisingly, it did as it was told. Maybe if you praised it, the thing would obey.

Or not, all the cloud creatures seemed to be following Baelfire, who was up front. Mech just happened to say that at the right time.

Anyway, as we approached the Gold Dungeon, I noticed a pink spot near the bottom of the island. "What's that?" I pointed at the blob, and Claire directed Baelfire down to it.

"It's Gravitite!" she exclaimed. "They're real rare, give me a sec..." she took out a Zanite pick that she had aquired from somewhere and mined the two blocks that were there.

"So that gives us... how many?" Claire asked, making sure the two blocks were safely in her bag.

"Four," Shadow answered. "I found two when we got here. Hey Adeline, didn't you say you didn't like your boots?"

"Well, uh... if it's real rare, don't waste it on me," I stuttered. "But yeah."

"Apparently these make really good boots," Shadow explained. "I can make you some if you want."

"Okay," I said, excited. "So... is there an entrance to this place or what?"

"Huh..." Claire scouted around the perimeter of the rather small island. "Uhhh, oh! Over here, you guys!" She called from the other side. "There's a red wall right here, come on!"

The clouds zoomed to the side that Bae and Claire were on, then vanished, making everyone fall to the ground in front of the red entrance that looked a lot like netherbrick. Rex and Sploosh jumped out of my backpack, and Tala stood by her canine friend, the fur on her shoulders bristling.

Suddenly the wall opened, revealing a dark, red room about as big as Lt. Acuity's throne room. We stepped inside, and everyone flinched as the doors swung shut.

"Oh... crap," I muttered, feeling anxious as I stared at the glowing ball in the center of the room. The shape shifted, and grew into a vaguely humanoid shape, but just barely. It looked like just an upper body; the head was a fireball without a face, and the arms were chunky and had metal braces on them, like the thing had once been imprisoned.

It turned to face us, and spoke in a Godlike, deep voice, "Your presence annoys me, mortals. Do you not fear my burning aura?"

I stepped forward, clutching Amethyst. "No. We're not afraid of anything." Woah, where did that come from? Rex trembled beside me.

"I have nothing to offer you," the creature boomed. "Leave me in peace."

"No!" I shouted back. "We're here to avenge our friend!"

The thing let out what might have been a sigh. "Perhaps you are ignorant. Do you wish to know who I am?"

"I know who you are," Will stepped up next to me. "You're the Sun Spirit, and we're not leaving until the sun sets." He looked at me and grinned out of the corner of his eye.

"Indeed!" it replied. "I am the Sun Spirit, embodiment of the Aether's eternal daylight. As long I am alive, then the sun will never set on this world."

Claire was next to speak. "Guess we'll have to kill you then."

"My body burns with the anger of a thousand beasts!" the Sun Spirit cried. "No man, woman, hero, or villain shall harm me. You mortals are no exception."

"Villain...?" Mech said. "Who's the villain here?"

"You wish to challenge the might of the sun?" Fire erupted around the Sun Spirit, emphasizing its frustration. "You are mad! Do not further insult me or you will feel my wrath!"

"Never," Shadow was the last to step forward, a dark but rather sexy look on his face. "We won't back down until the sun goes over the horizon."

"This is your final warning," The Sun Spirit shook, really pissed off. "Leave now or prepare to burn."

"Peace sells..." Mech shrugged. "but who's buying?"

"GRAAH!" Fireballs erupted all around us. "As you wish. Your death will be slow and agonizing."

"Challenge accepted." I said overdramatically, feeling like a badass in my armor. "Bring it on, campfire-breath."

The Sun Spirit floated upward and several fireballs burst forth from its body, bouncing around the room. "Woah!" I cried as one narrowly missed me, the heat radiating onto my face. Clutching Amethyst, I whacked at a second fireball, making it jump away from me.

A blue ball floated in the middle, this one made of ice. I wonder...

I swung Amethyst, the purple blade making the ice ball shoot forward and into the Sun Spirit's chest. He roared, and something fast shot toward me. I couldn't make out what it was, some kind of projectile, but it vanished when I slashed through it.

"Way to just hand us your weakness," I scoffed. "Got anything else to throw at us?"

"GRAAH! Obnoxious mortals!" The fire beast bellowed. "Brace yourselves, for your bravery will be rewarded with death!"

"Whatever," Mech looked like an assassin with two lightning knives in his hands and his cape billowing out behind him. "You can ju- HWOAH! That was close, wasn't it?" he taunted, darting past a fireball. "Oh, now you're pissed, aren't you- Whoops, that one almost hit my face, JUST KIDDING. It didn't even come close, oh, that one may have, not really."

"Hey, leave my friend alone," I clutched my sword, which looked like it was on the verge of melting. "Come at me, bro!"

The Sun Spirit stopped harassing Mech and turned toward me, firing a large fireball directly at my face. I would have been obliterated if Splish hadn't jumped up and absorbed the entire thing. Since he was made of lava, it did him no harm and he jumped off into the corner to cheer us on.

"Thanks, buddy!" I called to Claire's pet, and I slashed at a second ice ball. Honestly, why would the Sun Spirit fire his weakness at us? It didn't make any sense, but once it hit him he sent out a second speedy projectile, this time aiming it directly at Will.

He yelled and held up his shield, just in time for it to bounce off the center and into a wall. "Ha!" he laughed. "You fail!"

The Sun Spirit growled, obviously weakened. This time he fired at least twenty fireballs from around the room, and we all barely dodged each of them. Shadow had an idea and clutched his staff, sending out two Cloud Guardians. They fired balls of ice that were the same as the ones that hurt the firey creature, and it roared as it began to disintigrate. Aiming at Shadow, it fired one last fast fireball, dead set on hitting him right in the heart.

Everything went in slow motion. Shadow's eyes widened, and began to glow orange with the heat of the fireball. "NOOOOOO!" I screamed, diving in front of him and spreading my arms.

What had I just done? It didn't matter, because the heat of the fireball crashed into my chest and I felt... nothing? This armor resisted fire? Why hadn't I seen that before?

"Adeline... get off..." Shadow mumbled from underneath me. I blushed and stood up, dusting the ash from my armor. The Sun Spirit was nowhere to be found. He must have been defeated at last.

A golden key sat in his place, and once I picked it up, the back wall opened up to reveal a small chest. Rex bounded next to me, he hadn't been able to do much, but he barked happily as I unlocked the chest.

Inside it was a large sword with a black handle and hilt, the blood red blade almost glowing with a dark light. If that made any sense. My eyes widened, it was love at first sight.

I picked it up, and the thing almost glued to my hands. "This is mine!" I called. "Nobody even call dibs on it."

"I don't think we were planning to..." Claire laughed. "Man, I didn't get to do anything... my fire bow isn't good for fighting fire bosses."

"That's okay, we did a good job," I said. I held the blade in my hands. "Daemon-Lux." I said, the words rolling off my tongue. "The... what kind of sword is this?"

Will opened his book. "...I don't know, I don't have it in here."

"Then I'll call it a Vampire Blade!" I cried. "Daemon-Lux the Vampire Blade! It shall be a legendary weapon held in the Museum of Adeline!"

"...Yeah, right," Shadow laughed. "Cool name, though."

"Yus!" The sword felt light in my hand, almost lighter than Silverdart. "Sorry, Amethyst, I've found someone else," I said ruefully, putting the trusty purple sword back into my backpack. Mech laughed, at me and because Tala had licked him.

"So... I think we're done," Claire folded her arms. "We just gotta find our way back. If we can. Mech, you know where your house is?"

"Uhh... I think so," Mech answered. "Here, let me go out here, and- WOAH!"

"What?!" I stepped outside, and surprisingly, three Aerwhales were floating outside of the dungeon. They had probably flew over to see what all the commotion was, but it didn't really matter.

"MUSH!" I hopped onto one, and this time I didn't have to jam my thumb into its blowhole. Once Will got on behind me, it made a noise that sounded like a cross between a choir singing and a moo.

They began to fly forward and up over the mountains, where we could see for chunks. If I squinted, I could see a faint brown dot in the distance: Mech's house. A few Zephyrs floated around to the east of us, but they didn't seem to see the aerwhales and weren't much of a threat.

"Hey, maybe that cockatrice is still there!" Shadow said. "Can we go look?"

"You really like that thing, don't you?" Will said from behind me, both Timothy and his shield strapped to his back. "It might be... yeah, the cliff's right here."

The Aerwhales (and Baelfire) flew down to the mountain where we spotted the hurt bird, and sure enough, she was still there, this time sitting up and looking a healthier than she had before.

The whales stopped and allowed everyone to slide off. "Hey there!" I greeted, and the cockatrice squawked and flapped her wings, recognizing us. She looked at us for a minute, then shifted over.

Something small peeked out from behind her, and it turned out to be a small black bird that was similar to the cockatrice, but without purple tips. In fact, its entire body was black, and its red eyes, rimmed with black, peered at us with great curiosity.

"Awwww!" Claire squealed. "Was that the only egg that didn't break?"

"Guess so," Shadow stared at it, and it looked back and let out a caw. The mother cockatrice looked at Shadow, looked back at her baby, then back at Shadow. Using her beak, she nudged her chick forward, sending it flapping towards the boy.

"Wh..." Shadow stuttered as the moa flew into his arms. "Are you giving me your chick? Why would you..."

The mother stood up and stared at Shadow, with a slightly sad look that told him that her baby would be better off in a new home. I guess losing her mate would not make her a compatible mom.

She nuzzled her baby one last time and turned around, spread her wings and took off, flying away until she was a small green dot in the sky.

"Thank you!" Shadow waved, cringing as the black moa nipped at his nose. "Ow, jeez, she has sharp teeth."

"She?" I tilted my head.

"Well, it looks like a girl..." he shrugged. "You need a name. How about... Nyx. That suits you. Hi Nyx... come here, Nyx... don't eat the pigs, Nyx..."

We laughed, and Nyx the baby black moa toddled around, nuzzling each of our hands, probably to get a good scent. Can birds even smell?

It didn't matter, because the bird glued itself to Shadow's side, cooing and nuzzling his hip. Shadow looked a little uncomfortable at the affection that was directed toward him. I guess he was never good with things being attached to him. Not saying any names, Claire.

Mech took the Aechor petals he had gotten when we went to the Silver dungeon out of his jeans pocket. "Here, she can eat these," He offered the things to Shadow, who mumbled a 'thank you' and put them on his toolbelt.

Luckily, the Aerwhales were still there, so we hopped back onto them and they seemed to know where we wanted to go. Maybe they were the same whales that had taken us to the Bronze dungeon, I would never know. They all looked the same.

Claire hopped onto Baelfire, and we set off back to the house, which was now growing larger. I just noticed the sun was starting to move in the sky, and the air started to become chilly with evening wind.

I closed my eyes, savoring the feeling of the breeze on my face, the smell of the flowers, and the sensation of Will's arms around my neck securely so I wouldn't fall off. I could stay here, I thought to myself. Up here, now that all of the problems are gone, we could just live in Mech's house and forget about everything.

But I shook that thought out. I had to save the world before I lived happily ever after. That's just how it works.

The whales touched down onto the grass in front of Mech's house, and we waved goodbye as they mooed/sang and flew back around.

Suddenly something wrapped around Shadow's head. "AAGH!" he yelped, ripping it off. It turned out to be a small blue slime, a bit bigger than Sploosh but smaller than Splish.

"A swet!" Mech exclaimed. "Weird we haven't seen one yet. I think it likes you, Shadow."

"So it does..." Shadow sputtered as the blues wet wrapped itself around his neck like a scarf. "Didn't you say something about naming another slime Splash?"

"Yes!" Claire squealed. "Splish, Splash, Sploosh!"

"Right then," Shadow laughed as the swet rolled around behind his shoulders like a basketball. "Splash the swet it is. Now, I'm going to go into the house and eat, I'm starving."

"Me too," Claire clung to his shoulder, and Shadow sighed as they walked into the house. Will followed, which left me and Mech.

I laid down on the grass, and Rex and Sploosh got out of my backpack and laid next to me. The sun was starting to go down, and I exhaled as the sky began to turn pink and purple.

Mech laid down next to me. "Pretty cool, huh?"

I took off my helmet, and sighed in relief as my hair spilled out. I had a bit of helmet-hair, but it didn't really matter to me, I never really cared about how other people cared about my appearance. It was a stupid thing for people to judge you about, so I just stopped trying to live up to people's expectations. Maybe that was why I never really talked to anyone when I went to school back on Earth.

"Yeah..." I said, turning to look at him.

He folded his arms behind his head. "You know, you're one of the nicest girls I've talked to in a long time."

"...I have a boyfriend..."

"I said 'you're nice', not 'sleep with me'!" Mech frowned. "Jeez. Nevermind, then."

I laughed. "Okay, I'm sorry. Yeah, this is really pretty. Lt. Acuity was right. Too bad she could only see one. Where did that Sun Spirit come from, anyway?"

"The Enderdragon?" Mech said, and I raised my eyebrows. "Hey, if something goes wrong, you blame the Enderdragon."

"Seems legit..." I looked up, and noticed a few twinkly stars had appeared. "Oh, look," I pointed up, my other hand on Rex's back. "The stars are pretty."

"Yeah..." he sighed. "_Far away... the ship is taking me far away... far away from the memories... of the people who care if I live or die..._"

He had a beautiful voice, and something about it triggered a memory somewhere in the back of my mind.

"_Starlight... I will be chasing the starlight... Until the end of my life... I don't know if it's worth it anymore..._"

I looked at him. Dirty blonde hair, wild seafoam eyes with a reckless look in them like he couldn't stay still for more than a moment.

"_Hold you in my arms..._" he sighed, looking rather sad. "_I just wanted to hold you in my arms..._"

What... was it?

"_My life... you electrify my life... let's conspire to ignite... all the souls that would die just to feel alive..._" He looked at me, his eyes blazing with sadness, a hollowness that wanted to be filled.

No. No. This was wrong. I stood up, but when we made eye contact, suddenly everything made sense.

I've known this boy. My entire life.

Suddenly the ground began to shake, making Rex jump awake with a startled yelp. "What's going on?!" I yelled, and I tried to stand up, my legs wobbling from the tremors. Once I had picked myself up and put my armor back on, I banged on the window of the house. "GET OUT OF THERE!" I screamed, trying to find my friends.

Eventually they ran out, Claire looking terrified as she clutched onto Baelfire and directed him through the door.

"Oh, Notch..." Mech pointed to a spot in the distance, and I was horrified to see the islands beginning to crumble, breaking apart and crashing down to whatever layed below. Past that, the sky began to turn dark, and not just from night.

"We gotta get the hell out!" Will gasped, almost falling over from the shaking ground.

Sploosh jumped into my backpack, and I picked up Rex, who had become light to me now. I guess holding a sword most of my life here had made me stronger.

The portal seemed like it was miles away as we started running, the wave of destruction nearing us. Blocks were flying everywhere, and one would have hit me in the head, if I hadn't ducked at the right time.

"Go!" I shouted to everyone else, letting them go first. "Will, you too. You're not dying for me, you can't." He wanted to say something, but instead kissed me smack on the lips and ran away.

By that time we had reached the smaller island where we had started, and I was so shocked at the sudden movement that I didn't notice the mountain beginning to collapse right behind me.

"ADELINE!" I heard Mech shout, and suddenly I was tackled to the ground. "You bitch, why do I have to keep saving you?" His smirk reminded me of a lynx.

"Get off me, you perv," I shoved him off, and shrieked as my foot slipped into nothing. "Nope, nope, nope, nope!" My legs became blurs as I narrowly escaped the doom wave, and I shoved Mech into the portal, as he was the second-to-last to go into it.

I stepped inside it, and the last thing I saw before the portal shattered was a giant dragon letting out a roar of fury, a burst of purple flame bursting from its jaws and heading straight for my face.

* * *

><p>Woah, that was really fun to do. :O<p>

So, as usual, be sure to check out my DeviantART page, TheMinersDestiny, so you can see drawings of the characters, bonus information, and see how far I am into the story! Follow my new Twitter page, ThMinersDestiny (not enough characters...) and fire those questions! To the characters AND to me!

Okay. QUESTION TIME!

**To Tala: From Zoea, Why don't you like Adeline? I thought I raised you better than that.**

Tala: D: I'm sorry master! I didn't mean to!

**To Will: If you know some about the Aether, then doesn't that mean you went there? Where is your portal?**

Will: No, okay, I got most of my info from that elder in the NPC village, and a bit more from Mech, since he's been there for a while. And I record it in my encyclopedia. Does that clear it up? :)

**To the fourth-wall-repairman: If the wall is destroyed so many times, where do you get the resources to repair?**

Fourth-Wall-Repairman: A touch of fairy dust.

**To the fourth-wall-repairman: If you aren't real, doesn't that mean your destroying the fourth wall yourself?**

Fourth-Wall-Repairman: ... *dies*

**To the Green Cockatrice: Who's your mate and what happened to him? Is that your egg or is a stolen from a different creature?**

Green Cockatrice: He was a black moa... strong and handsome and loved me with every part of his heart... and yes, that egg was mine, and it was the only one I was able to protect... the rest were shattered from a rival Cockatrice attack that killed my mate because he wanted me to himself...

**Lieutenant Acuity: I heard that you like fashionable things and make ups. Have you been to Louise Vuitton, by any chance? Also, have you tried any products from Chanel?**

Lt. Acuity: Louise Vuitton... Chanel...? What are these fancy words you speak of?

**To Mech: Do you like Justin Bieber, One Direction, Taylor Swift or Katy Perry by any chance?**

Mech: *gags* Nope, nope, nope... Gross, I think I just vomited a little... ugh...

**To Notch: Since you're the god of Aether, I'll presume that you met Acuity before. What do you think of her?**

Notch: Why yes, I've created them, and they are my subjects! Personally, I picked Acuity to be the queen because of her spirit and courage, but she is... was... a little bossy and a tad selfish.

**To Herobrine: What would you say to people out there who thinks you're evil?**

Herobrine: I would say I know where you're getting at and you don't need to be afraid because I'm simply messing with you. :)

Phew. -.- I'll try to update soon, I promise! :D

PLASMAAAAAA! *smokebomb*

FMF


	19. Lavender Eyes

Hullo everyone! :D I have a few apologies to make.

First one goes to both Mellifluousness and Curtisimo, for drastically changing the characters you sent me. I have a tendency to subconsciously want things to go my way, and end up changing things that other people suggest to me. So I'm really sorry about that. :(

Next one goes to MechanixAngel for losing touch with him for, like, a week. That doesn't sound like a lot, but to me it really is. I STILL LIKE YOUUU~

And the third one goes to everyone else for taking for-freaking-ever on this chapter. I assure you, it'll be worth the wait. ;)

Now, I'd like to announce that The Miner's Destiny has passed both 400 and 500 reviews! *sudden rain of confetti* So, a a shoutout to Night wl and darmenias for being the 400th and 500th reviewers! :DD And a shoutout to exb756 for trying to be the 400th but failing. :3

Announcement 3: I'm sorry my DeviantArt account kinda died. I'll post art on it soon, since I should probably start working on a cover. :P That would be a good idea.

Announcement 4: Please, PLEASE stop asking me to read your fanfic. I don't know why this happens, but when someone tells me to read their story I suddenly feel an aversion to it and when I start reading I'm all, "Ugh, do I HAVE to?" If your story's good I'll find it on my own. I browse the Minecraft archive daily.

**Replies to Reviews!**

Bowtiesarecool99: Thanks Hannah. XD Now can you actually review my story? Just because you're my real-life friend doesn't mean you don't have to say anything about it.

HarryPotterEncyclopedia24: You were... shaking? You scare me sometimes. And yes. Dragons breathe fire, can't they? XD

VA842867: Awww, thank you! :3 And you can thank Mellifluousness for the lack of mistakes.

GothKat2SlashFan: Thank you! :D And I know the fight ended a bit quickly, but with five people attacking it at once you'd think it would. :)

Night wl: Thank yew! :3 And yeah, I saw the typo. I'll change it eventually.

exb756: I've watched many an Amnesia gameplay video. *shudder* And to answer your questios in order: Probably not; a boss and treasure; and I'm not doing a Twitter anymore, and I have no idea how I organize everything. Pixie dust? But anyway, I'll review your fic eventually. :3

PigeonFligher: I'm so sorry! D: I never spell pigeon right the first time. And you must like caramel.

MechanixAngel: Well, I've already talked to you, but HELL YES. THAT WOULD BE THE BEST THING EVER. But you have to tell me why you freaked out. D: And sorry for not talking to you. *apologetic hug*

Mellifluousness: PFFF HAHAHA- anyway, I think you're thinking of The Legend of Spyro, Dawn of the Dragon (because you said on Skype you play that game) when they're in the gate place under Dragon City and they find the painting of Malefor and Sparx is like "Woah, woah, is that you? They're all worshipping you! :O" So yes. And no, you can't plasma. Only I can do that.

Have a Little Feith: No. Her name's Hannah.

CyanSkies: I need to read your story. Give me, like, three days.

Curtisimo: ;D

Pokemanchas: Oh, stop it you.

katnissbraid: Hi Carleigh.

KyaniteArcher: Claire DID say her bow wasn't effective, so she was probably just trying to keep herself out of the way. :P

eak60: The reunited thing you said was the best thing I've ever seen. You're cool now.

The Grand Master of All Things End: :DD

Sicomba: Thanks for all the reviews!

CookieAssassin: You weren't supposed to have read it anywhere.

greyskull20: Thanks for the info. :)

thefinalhero7000: NO.

darmenias: :DD Thank you! And yes, Overly Attatched Claire is overly attatched.

StarsOfMagic: dsgdgvsdgfvs long reviews :DD- Anyway, yeah, I made both Shadow's and Claire's characters like that on purpose. And yeah, the characters are in fact getting a little crowded.

IsolationPhoenix: Meh.

Draconic Savior: MAY THEY LOOK AFTER US ALL. (Love the icon, by the way)

thedeadcrafter: Please don't do that.

Richard: Endermen are evil because... oh, just read the chapter. XD

Lazurman: Thank you! :D

Sorry if I didn't reply to your's. It erased about half of my replies and I just wanted to get them over with. That or your grammar was bad or it was too short for me to say anything.

Now, on with the chapter! :D

* * *

><p>Chapter 19: Lav<strong>END<strong>er Eyes

We ended up in a tangle of limbs in front of the Aether portal, and I hit my head hard on the stone floor. I ended up being the one at the bottom, but my helmet prevented Claire's knee from crushing my skull in. Not that it would have, but Claire was pretty bony.

"Ouch..." Will almost speared Mech through the head with Timothy and stood up. "That was a rush, wasn't it?"

"Sure was!" Shadow used his cloud staff to lean on while he got up and dusted yellow powder off of his grey sweatshirt. "What's all this...?"

I looked up and noticed the portal was gone, droplets of water and bits of glowstone dust in its place. "The portal's destroyed," I exclaimed obviously. "It probably broke along with the rest of the Aether."

"Dammit, Enderdragon!" Mech said in a dramatic voice while shaking his fist at the heavens. "You broke the Aether!"

Rex and Tala's nails clicked across the floor as they tried to regain their balance, and Splish and Sploosh were getting acquainted with the new swet, Splash.

"The slimes are getting along well," I pointed out, then sighed. "Looks like the Aether's dead... you think the same thing happened to the Nether?"

"I suppose so," Claire picked her bow off of the ground, polishing the bright orange handle with her shirt. "If you want to take over Minecraftia you have to do a clean job, right?"

"Well, looks like someone knows how to take over the world," Will stated. "Any more advice?"

My cousin looked confused. "I was just saying," she shrugged, stretching and giving us a clear view of her bellybutton. "Why do you guys take my jokes so seriously?"

"Will's a serious guy," I said, taking off my armor and feeling the open air around my cyan shirt and jeans. "Hey, Shadow, what were you saying earlier about Gravitite boots?"

"Oh, right," Shadow remembered. "I used this thing called an enchanter - it's like a furnace - to smelt some Gravitite down and I made some boots. Want 'em?"

"Hell yeah!" I said as he tossed me a floating icon, which grew into metallic pink footwear that had small wing patterns on the sides. I slipped them on, and they were actually rather comfy, as if the clunky look was just the style. They reminded me of Uggs, the trendy, obscenely expensive boots that girls always wore that didn't actually function like boots were supposed to and always confused me as to why they were so stylish.

"These are nice!" I commented, lifting one leg to look at the bottom. The boots didn't make any noise as I walked across the floor, as though I was slightly floating above the ground, and when I jumped up, I found myself flying through the air and hitting my head on the ceiling of the mineshaft.

"Ow!" I rubbed my head ruefully. "That was stupid. These things make you jump pretty high, don't they?"

Mech laughed. "So, can I see you guys' house?"

"Sure thing," Claire and Baelfire led the way up the stairs. "Let me get Bae into his little area, then I'll help show you around," my cousin added.

Splash was wrapped around Shadow's neck like a choker, and I had to stifle a laugh at how ridiculous he looked. The blue swet's face was slightly stretched out as the small, cute eyes peered at Nyx, who was walking behind Shadow and squawking like a baby bird that wanted food.

The black-haired boy grumbled and dropped a purple petal at his feet, which the moa snapped up happily. "Eventually I'm gonna run out of these. Hopefully Nyx won't have to eat them by then."

"Or she can eat regular flowers," Will pointed out. "I don't know, do they taste any different?"

"Actually, aechor petals taste a lot better than rose petals," Mech raised his hand. "...What? Why're you guys looking at me like that?"

I snorted and followed everyone up the stairs. Claire had already gone up there to put Bae inside his special safe house, so she was probably outside.

Tala decided to trail behind Mech and put her head under his Agility cape and get stuck in it, snorting profusely until she could get herself untangled. The blond-haired boy growled and bunched his cloak up, slinging it over his shoulder.

Shadow looked over at us with a look that plainly said, "I'm surrounded by idiots." and swung the door to our house open. "Well, here it is," he turned to Mech, his arms out. "It's not much, but it fits everybody."

"I think it looks great!" Mech grinned. "But, er, I don't have a bed, and there doesn't seem to be any room." he turned to me and smirked. "Can I-"

"No!" yelled Shadow, Will and I at the same time. We all gave each other a rather awkward look, then laughed. Will seemed a little bothered by what Mech had said, so I kissed him on the cheek apologetically, and that seemed to make him relax. It was rather satisfying, too.

Suddenly I realized the sky was dark; we had ended up coming home at the dead of night. I became a little worried for Claire. With this mob disease spreading all over, what if she was attacked by a horde of extra-aggressive monsters?

Once I was about to grab my new sword, Daemon-Lux the Vampire Blade, out of my bag, she came in with a shiny new burn on her arm. "Sorry about that," she said. "Bae got a little excited."

"Here's some wool," Will huffed, throwing three blocks of it in Mech's direction. "Make your own bed." he sounded a little overprotective, but he was smiling jokingly.

As Mech crafted his bed, I stretched and slipped my backpack off of my shoulders, slipping that and my sword under my bed where I could easily reach them. Rex and Sploosh hopped up beside me, and I laughed as my wolf barked at the little slime, making him let out a telepathic yelp and slide up into my hair.

Sighing all of the exciting moments out of my head, I laid down and looked out the window, which my bed was directly beneath. I spotted a spider scuttling down a tree and onto the grass, and I thought it was the infamous Mr. Spider, but his eyes were both red.

"'Night, guys," Claire called out, snuggling up to her magma cube, which looked like it was nice and warm. It got cold in this forest at night.

"Goodnight," Shadow answered uncomfortably as a rather loud Nyx attempted to slide under the covers with him.

"Sweet dreams," Mech folded his arms back and snorted as Tala laid on his chest. "Want me to sing you a-"

"NO!" we all shouted, then laughed. "That's the second time that's happened today," I said, then sighed. "You guys are my best friends. Please don't die."

"Only the good die young," Mech looked over at me. "Pinkie swear?"

"Pinkie sworn," I promised, linking little fingers with the blonde boy. Will seemed to already be asleep, so I didn't bother promising him.

After a while of thinking about life, I decided I loved Will. A lot. Then I went to sleep and dreamt something I hadn't seen in years.

~(|)~

A small girl, no older than six, sat at a table by herself, quite unlike the other kindergarteners playing house or dress-up. Her light auburn hair was tied back into two pigtails, and the ribbons matched her white dress with multicolored polka dots, something she had picked out herself.

"Hi!" the little girl looked up when she heard a voice, and her already big blue eyes widened when a boy about the same size as her sat down next to her. "What's your name?"

"A-Adeline," the girl said, obviously confused as to why a boy of all things would sit by her. Boys had cooties, after all. "What's your name?"

"I'm Chris!" the boy exclaimed. "Adeline's a really pretty name! I've heard Anna and I've heard Allie, but not Adeline!"

"Uhuh." The girl returned to her coloring.

"What's that?" Chris pointed at Adeline's doodle, smudging a patch of dark crayon.

"It's a dragon," the girl said, pushing his hand away. "Stop touching it, you'll get it dirty!"

"Sorry," the blonde boy said, looking genuinely guilty. "Why is it black? Black's a boring color; why isn't it red or blue or green?"

Adeline gave Chris a look as if that was the stupidest question she'd ever heard. "Because it's a special dragon! Black's a special color!"

"Oh." The blonde boy looked at his shirt, which was blue with black sleeves. "Um... uh... wanna be best friends?"

Adeline looked around, then smiled. "Okay! Hi, new best friend!"

~(|)~

A third-grade Adeline leaned against a large tree in the middle of recess, drawing in a notebook. This time, there was no Chris to be seen. In fact, there weren't any people around her at all.

"Hey! Loner!"

She looked up to see three large, mean-looking boys strutting towards her, the one at the front being tall with mousy-brown hair. "What do you want, Calvin?"

"Why are you all by yourself, Loner?" The one named Calvin smirked. "Don't you have any friends?"

"I have one good friend," Adeline frowned, setting her sketchbook down. "Why do you keep bothering me?"

"Hey, what's that?" Calvin snatched up her notebook before she could grab it from him. He made a face. "What the heck is this? Why doesn't this guy have any eyes?"

"He does," Adeline snapped. "He just doesn't have any irises."

Calvin gave the girl a funny look. "You know what, you're a-"

"Hey! Leave her alone!" A voice called from behind the bullies, and they turned around to see none other than Chris standing there with his hands on his hips.

"Hey, look, it's the geek!" Calvin aimed his self-hatred towards Adeline's best friend. "Are you here to save your girlfriend, geek-head?"

Chris gave them a very murderous stare. "Leave her alone, Calvin. And Drew. And Cody. And leave me alone, too."

Without giving Adeline her notebook back, the three glared at Chris, then stomped inside the school. "Are you okay?" Chris asked. "They're bullies. Don't listen to them."

"I won't," Adeline shrugged. "Let's go inside. I don't know why I came out here anyway."

Once they had walked back into the classroom, Adeline found her notebook laying closed on her desk. She opened it, and the tears started falling when she saw that every single page was now covered with black marker, including the one that pictured the strange, white-eyed man that haunted her dreams.

~(|)~

The scene morphed into a lake, in which Chris and Adeline, now around eleven or twelve, paddled a small grey canoe out into the middle. The body of water was completely surrounded by thick forest, without a road or path leading to it. Apparently, nobody else knew about it or was interested enough to visit it.

"Search endlessly, fight 'till we're free~" the blonde boy sang once they stopped rowing. "_Fly past the edge of the sea~ No bend in me, no mockery~ Somehow we still carry on_!"

"How'd you find this place?" Adeline asked, pulling a cattail out of her hair. "We live right next to it, and I've never even seen this lake."

"I was squirrel hunting!" Chris raised his oar like a spear. "Feedest ye nott, yon squirrels!"

Adeline laughed, loud and genuine, which made Chris turn a little red. "Did you find any?" she asked.

"Nooo..." he replied. "I found one, but I had to chase it, and I swear it teleported away once I caught up to it, right... over there!" he pointed to a patch of rocky beach on one side. "No, seriously, it vanished into a fine mist!"

The auburn-haired girl rolled her eyes, then up at the sun, humming a song under her breath. "_Doo-doo-doo, doo-doodoo-doo... doo-doo-doo, doo-doodoo-doo..._"

Chris joined in. "_I'm packed and I'm holding, I'm smiling~ She's living, she's golden, she lives for me~ Says she lives for me~ Ovation, her own_ motivation!"

"_She comes round and she goes down on me_~" Adeline raised her voice, belting out the lyrics like she didn't care. "_And I make her smile like a drug for you~ Do ever what you want to do, coming over you~ Keep on smiling what we go through~ One stop to the rhythm that divides you!_"

The two sang their hearts out to the clouds, swaying along to the nonexistent beats. Chris stopped suddenly, even though Adeline kept singing. "Adeline, we're rocking the boat... ADELINE!"

The canoe tipped over, sending the two best friends tumbling into the murky water. Adeline screamed as she paddled furiously, her panic causing her to grow exhausted and making her sink deeper.

"No, no, no, no..." Chris gasped, taking a deep breath and diving into the depths. Squinting past the muck and what could have been a large sea serpent, he spotted swirls of red-brown hair floating at the bottom. He waved the seaweed aside, and found Adeline laying at the bottom, her face unnaturally white and looking startling beautiful as her hair defied physics and floated around her face.

Bubbles flew from Chris's nose as he grabbed both of her hands and tried to pull her up. She was much heavier than he had expected, so he eventually wrapped both of his arms around her waist and tried to float back to the surface. Dark spots threatened to take over his vision as his lungs screamed for air, and many times his legs cried for him to just give up and just sink back to the bottom with his arms wrapped around the girl he loved.

The second his head broke through the surface, he gasped for air and flipped the canoe back over, heaving Adeline onto it. "Just a bit more..."

He struggled to lift himself into the boat, but once he did, he laid on the bottom and panted, trying to fill his lungs back up. "Adeline?" He sat up, pushing wet locks out of the girl's face. "C'mon, please don't be dead... please..." he smacked her white cheeks repeatedly. "Uh... CPR... how do you do CPR? Put your hands like... this?"

He took his hands and pushed them against Adeline's chest multiple times. "Please wake up... don't make me do mouth-to-mouth, you idiot... although..."

The girl coughed, water spilling out of her mouth, then groaned as her eyes fluttered open. "What...? What happened?"

Tears began to fall down Chris' face. "You... you almost died! I s-saved you!"

"You did...?" Adeline sat up, rubbing the side of your head. "Ugh... my head hurts..."

Chris looked to the west, where the sun began to set, making the sky a stunning purple and pink. "Uh... Adeline? Can I tell you something?"

"Sure, Chris."

His face turned beet red when she said his name, and nerves overcame him. "Uh... I... nevermind. Let's go home."

A few weeks after the incident, Chris' family moved away to another school, and Adeline lost contact with her only friend.

~(|)~

"She's crying in her sleep..."

I opened my eyes to discover Will's face inches from mine. "What?"

"I said," Will repeated. "you were crying in your sleep. See?" he took his finger and ran it down her cheek. Sure enough, it was wet. "What did you dream about?"

"Uh... I can't remember," I lied, staring off into space. I've had dreams like that for a while, flashbacks of my rather bland and unhappy childhood reminding me that I barely had any friends. But why had I never dreamed about Mech before? Even more, forgotten about him completely?

Apparently we had lived right across the street from each other until fifth or sixth grade, then he moved to a different town. Why didn't I remember him?

I turned my head to look at what used to be my best and only friend, and he looked genuinely sad, worried for me. For some reason, I felt like I should be loving him back, but I barely felt anything for him, which was slightly depressing.

"What time is it...?" I rubbed my eyes, taking Will's hand as he helped me out of bed. Why did I love this boy, who I haven't known more than a month, and not the apparently lovesick one who I've been best friends with my entire life?

"Almost noon," Shadow replied, even though I'm pretty sure I wasn't even looking in his direction. Shadow, on the other hand, was probably my first crush, and although I put all of my heart into my and Will's relationship, I still had set aside a little bit for Shadow.

"We should probably start getting things done, then," Claire said, clutching Shadow's arm.

"I need to brew more potions," Shadow said, taking his brewing stand out of his toolbelt, then placing it on the floor. "What are you guys gonna do?"

"Uh..." I looked at everyone else. "I'm going to go... and... test out my new Gravitite boots. Without hurting myself."

"I'll come with," Mech said quickly, and Will offered to go with too. Claire, Splish and Baelfire decided to walk back into the mineshaft to get more obsidian so she could make an enchanting table.

I slipped on the pink boots, grabbed my sword and backpack, then opened the door. I haven't been in the Overworld for who knows how long, and it was relaxing to smell roses and dandelions and the lake right next to our house again.

"Let's see," I bent my knees and jumped up, and I felt almost weightless as I soared through the air, at least eight feet up and fifteen feet forward, before I landed as smooth as an ocelot. "Woah..." I breathed, laughing as Will and Mech gave a round of applause.

Rex trotted out the door and sniffed my hand as if to say, "You left without me, you scumbag," and I scratched him on his favorite place, behind the ears. Tala followed him and sat beside Mech.

We all sat down next to the water, and stayed silent for a few minutes, looking out at the lake. From here, if I turned around, I could look through the windows of our house and see the three slimes stacked up on top of each other like a layer cake. Splish the magma cube, the largest, sat on the bottom, supporting the weight of Splash the swet, who in turn had Sploosh on her head. It was adorable, and I couldn't help but love all of them for keeping us company and not trying to eat us on this adventure.

"So," Will said after a few minutes. "what are we gonna do from here? We just got back from the Aether..."

"Well," I answered. "we have to travel to the End, where the Enderdragon lives, right? And we need to kill it, then destroy the egg. But how are we gonna do that?"

"Yeah, it's not going to be easy," Mech said obviously. "Hum... I remember there being a new portal added to Minecraft a bit before the time I got sucked in... in some dungeon-y thing."

"Oh, right!" Will looked up from his lap. "A Stronghold! Those are hard to find, though, aren't they?"

"Right, right," Mech said, and I kept turning my head back and forth like I was watching a ping pong match, because I had no idea what they were talking about. "Who knows how far we'd have to walk to get to one? Days?"

"So..." I said after a moment, scratching Rex on the back. "What?"

"Okay," Will looked at me. "So in the game, and most likely here too, Ender portals are located at a place called a Stronghold. They're usually underground and there are only a couple in each world. We need something called an Eye of Ender that floats in the direction of the nearest stronghold, and we need a few more to fit in the portal, assuming it's not working."

"Sounds hard," I noted. "I'm sure our weapons are fine for now, since there are so many of us. Claire can wear her leather armor, I can wear my phoenix armor and Will can use his shield. Shadow's probably not gonna want anything so he can run around easier. Mech has his cloak."

"And Claire's building an enchantment table," Mech added. "So we can enchant our weapons and make them better."

"How do you enchant, exactly?" I asked.

"Well, an enchanting table is basically a diamond and obsidian table with a book floating on top of it." Mech explained, and when I raised an eyebrow, he added. "The pattern the diamonds make on the obsidian create a force that lifts it up into the air and gives it magical properties."

"Right..." I was still a bit skeptical, and I added, "So what does the book do?"

"You place the weapon on the table, basically," Mech described. "And the book will turn to a page full of enchantments that match both the tool and your experience level. You have to say the enchantment out loud, and it infuses the tool with power. Yeah, it's a bit weird," he said quickly. "And it's a tough process. You have to pronounce the enchantments just right for the magic to work. I can do it for you, if you want."

"Sure thing," I shrugged. "I don't know how to speak Elvish or Simlish or Parseltongue or whatever you have to speak."

Will laughed when I said Simlish. "Yeah, who knows? Anyway, let's talk a bit."

"About what?" I asked, feeling a little exposed with no armor on but my boots.

"Hmm..." Will thought, then said, "How about this... if we end up going back to Earth, what do you plan on doing?"

"Oh, that's easy!" Mech looked up. "First thing I wanna do is go to a Megadeth concert! Right now they're on their Countdown to Extinction 20th Anniversary tour..."

"Shut up, Mech," I laughed. "How about, like, future? What you want to do? Besides concerts," I added.

"Hmm," He thought for a moment, pushing Tala's head away before she licked his face for attention. Petting her on the back, he said, "I think I wanna go into engineering. Something involving science and computers. But it'd be cool to write music for videogames, too."

"Seems like you haven't decided," I said, then I took my turn. "Well, I was planning on going to college for art, but I also want to do something involving music. Writing music for videogames sounds fun... but I also want to do interior design. And somewhere in that I want to get married and start a family, but you know... all of this might turn me insane or something."

Will laughed. "Hmm..." he thought. "I wanna go into architecture, design buildings and stuff. Like, things that conserve energy and overall do better stuff for humans."

"Wish you could build like Minecraft," I stated. "Then stuff would be less expensive." We all laughed, Rex even seemed to bark in amusement.

For a while we stopped talking and simply looked out at the water. Because Minecraftia didn't have any wind, the water was smooth as a mirror, reflecting the blue sky above it that was beginning to turn orange. If you walked around the coast and through the rest of the forest, you would reach the desert and eventually the village. The darker it became, the more I could see a small blossoming of torchlight in the distance coming from the town of the strange, silent people with big noses.

"We might wanna go back to the house," Will stood up. "If we stay around here any longer we're probably going to get eaten by monsters."

"Nah, we can handle them now," I laughed, which was most likely a lie, because I had left my armor in the house. Daemon-Lux was sitting on the grass next to my backpack, however, but I wasn't sure if the sword alone was going to keep me alive.

Even so, we walked back to the house. Claire appeared to not have come back yet, because Baelfire wasn't in his enclosure. I opened the door and slipped my Gravitite boots off and set them neatly next to my bed. "Where's Shadow?" I wondered out loud, hanging my backpack up on the bedpost.

"Dunno," Will examined a brewing stand that had been left on the ground, three bottles of pink potion bubbling fiercely from the heat of the glowing blaze rod in the center. Above the blaze core, there was a small glass bubble containing glowstone dust, with three pipes that led from the bubble to the three potions, giving them more power.

"It looks like he just got up and left it without finishing up," Mech announced, and I agreed. I faintly remember him saying he always put his brewing stand back onto his tool belt when he was finished with it; he wouldn't just leave it on the floor in mid-brew, would he?

"Ouch!" I yelped, feeling a sharp pain under my sock. Lifting my foot up, I discovered a small piece of glass partially embedded in my heel. Since it wasn't in too deep, I pulled it out and rubbed away the small smear of blood that followed. I tried to find where the glass came from, and realized there were many other shards on the floor, along with lumps of cocoa and glowstone.

"Ugh, this stuff is all over the place," Will nudged some of the glass under his bed. "It looks like he put up a fight, like he was... taken from the house."

We all looked at each other at the same time, eyes wide.

"He's been kidnapped!" Mech declared. "We need to find him. Besides you, he's what holds our group together. We'd be toast if he wasn't there to give us potions."

"We'll find him," I began to slip my Phoenix armor on, and once I put the helmet on, I almost felt like a different person. Grabbing Daemon-Lux, I opened the door back up, swinging my backpack over my shoulder. "Come, Rex," I slapped my thigh, and he obediently trotted to my side. "Let's go."

"Another question is..." Mech said as we walked swiftly between the trees. "Where's Claire at? Shouldn't she be here looking for her boyfriend of all things?"

"That's a good question..." I said. "...Do you hear that?"

We all stopped and could faintly hear yelling deeper in the forest. "That might be Shadow," Will said, beginning to walk faster. "Mech, get your knives out, for Notch's sake. You might need them if Shadow is actually kidnapped."

"Look," I pointed out to what could be a clearing, or just spot bare of trees. "I think I can see movement over there." I walked faster, and broke out into a run. Shadow was definitely over there, and he wasn't out picking flowers.

I almost ran right over the last tree I passed before we finally got to the bare spot of grass in the middle of the woods. If not for the odd scene in front of me, it would have been almost serene, with the moon hanging directly above the clearing and bathing everything in silvery moonlight.

"What in the name of...?" Mech came up behind me.

A group of four Endermen stood around a large floating monster. The thing was black, and had peeling black scales thinly stretched over its human-like rib cage, barely covering all of its bones. The skull resembled a skeleton's, but had glowing white pits where its eyes should have been. There were two, smaller skulls next to the center one, each on the end of what could have been an arm or a long neck.

Those two smaller skulls had their jaws clamped around each of Shadow's arms, lifting him at least four feet above the ground. His teeth were clenched as he tried to pry his arms from the monster's grip, and he pedaled his feet constantly, as if he could just run from it at any moment.

"Oh, hello," one of the Endermen said. "Fancy seeing your friends here, Shadow, hmm?"

"Don't... hurt... them!" Shadow snarled, trying to kick at the creature holding him captive. The center skull let out a growl that made my spine turn to ice, and Shadow gasped, his face turning pale. He was still after that.

The Enderman stroked the monster with a long, spidery finger. "Who's a good Wither," it cooed. "You are! You'll get your dinner soon, I promise."

The Enderman that had greeted us was rather strange; its eyes were a hot pink instead of the usual purple. Next to it, a second Enderman's eyes glowed a bright periwinkle. Two shorter Endermen cowered behind the monster: One possessing twinkly orange eyes and the other with grassy green orbs.

"Okay, what's going on...?" Will's knuckles were white as he gripped Timothy with both hands. "Explain. Now."

"Oh, come now, child," the pink-eyed Enderman said calmly. "There are many things you don't know. All of you. You see, all of you have been betrayed."

"Wha...?" I muttered out loud, and Rex barked in confusion.

"Allow me to explain," the Enderman said, folding its hands together. "Seeing as how you will kill me if I don't this instant. Now, Her Majesty the Enderdragon has appointed a small number of Endermen to protect her to make sure her plan goes as smoothly as the surface of obsidian. I am Darcy, the blue-eyed one to my left is Duncan, and those two weaklings are Ashling and Keiran. But I believe you know them better as... Flu and Squirt."

An odd noise came out of my throat, and the two small Endermen stepped forward. "When a Minecrafter dies, their aura is usually transferred to the Aether where they are judged on their pureness. But our Mistress has intercepted that cycle, and instead these auras travel to the End, you see. There she places them into the bodies of Endermen, and takes control of their minds. Soon, she will create an army of what were once humans on Earth and take over Minecraftia, and someday, your planet!"

I could do nothing but stare now. "...Flu?" My voice was raspy for some reason. Maybe I was on the verge of tears.

"Darcy," the orange-eyed Enderman that was once Flu said. "Is this human the being that the Prophecy speaks of? Are we to kill her? May I?"

"What... Flu!" I shouted. "It's me! Adeline!"

"Do I need to remind you?" Darcy seemed frustrated. "Flu doesn't know you anymore. She wants to kill you so the Enderdragon can rule, remember?"

The smallest Enderman who was supposed to be Squirt didn't say anything. Darcy clapped her hands together and said, "Oh, this is priceless! You should see the look on your faces! Anyway, I'm not finished. There is a fifth member of the Enderdragon's secret service." She turned toward Shadow and placed two of her spidery fingers on his... eye? She pulled something from it. "Oh, yes. Brown contact lenses made from glass panes and cocoa. Very clever." She flicked it away and took an Ender pearl from Duncan. "Heart of Enderman," she chanted. "Return to your former holder! Shadow is not who you think, mortals!" The Ender pearl floated towards Shadow, then entered his chest.

The black-haired boy screamed in unimaginable agony, and his eyes shot open. Two purple beams shot out from each one, and his entire body lengthened and darkened, until he was no longer a teenage boy, but the same monster as the ones standing in front of us.

Shadow had been an Enderman all along.

Duncan stepped forward. "You see, Shadow was assigned to look over you, Adeline, when you first came to Minecraftia, and even before that. When your dear cousin Claire introduced you to that game, he was there already, making sure our plan was working successfully.

"But, unfortunately, Shadow developed a wittle cwush on the pwetty girl..." Darcy continued, saying the last part in a mocking, little-girl tone. "and decided that he was going to turn his back on us so his true love wasn't going to die. Isn't that just the most adorable, romantic thing you've ever heard?" Shadow hung his head, saying nothing, and a wave of guilt poured into my veins.

"If you were not informed," Ash- I mean Flu, added. "Mistress Enderdragon is a contemptuous deity indeed. She wanted to establish that you were to be given sanctuary so you would eventually find The End where she could slaughter you in person. Mistress is very much looking forward to the day where you will arrive in our dimension and attempt to battle her, where you are guaranteed to fail."

She was bluffing, I could tell. "Woah now," I finally spoke, feeling a surge of confidence. "Nobody says I'm going to lose except me. It's not like Fate told you, huh?"

"You're a cheeky Chosen One, honey," Darcy growled, her magenta eyes blazing. "If you're so convinced that you and your group of hooligans are going to defeat our Queen, why don't you have a little practice?" She and the other Endermen assumed an intimidating battle position, except for Squirt, who hid behind the Wither, and Shadow, who in his original form hung from the creature's grip like a slug.

"Bring it on!" Mech shouted, and Rex and Tala growled as their eyes glowed red and blue respectively. I raised Daemon-Lux, who was a lot heavier than Silverdart but felt more powerful, and adjusted my helmet.

"If you're so convinced that you and your group of "Elites" are going to defeat us," I retorted. "then challenge accepted!"

The Endermen charged with an otherworldly cry, and the Wither backed up so it could maintain its death grip on Shadow the Enderman's arms. I lifted my sword and ran at them, immediately having to duck from what could have been a lethal swing from Duncan's long arm. I heaved Daemon-Lux at him, and he barely dodged the sharp bloodred blade. From behind me, I could hear Rex and Tala taking on Ashling, who had faster reflexes than a spider.

Will deflected a blow from Darcy's fist with his shield, distracting me, and I recoiled as Duncan slapped me harshly. The black leathery scales were rough, which made the impact sting like a rock made of sandpaper, and I retaliated by cleaving him with my sword. Darcy screamed and Duncan's periwinkle eyes widened as my sword cut him right in half, and the black skin dissolved away to reveal a light blue, humanoid shape.

"Thank you for releasing me..." a masculine voice echoed in my head as the aura dissipated into nothing.

I touched my cheek again and realized that the bruise Duncan had left on my face was only a small raised mark. Had my sword healed me as it did damage?

"I'LL MASSACRE YOU UNTIL THERE ISN'T EVEN AN AURA LEFT!" I heard Darcy screech from behind me, and before I turned around her hand wrapped around my hair and yanked as hard as it could. I shrieked as fire ripped through my scalp, and I hit the skinny arm with the flat edge of my blade. Something cracked, and the pink-eyed Enderman screamed again, but this time, different colored eyes began to peek out from between the trees.

"Kill them!" Darcy commanded, and at least thirty other Endermen, each with differently-colored eyes, lunged at us. I was quickly overpowered as one of them covered my eyes, and another swiped at my face. Warm blood trickled down my cheek as I struggled to break free from the two Endermen that were holding me down, and I began to lose hope as what might have been a third Enderman wrapped a hand around my neck...

As my vision grew dark, I heard the clicking of mandibles from all around the clearing, and I was released from the Endermen's grips. I gasped for air as I laid on the ground, and as I blinked to regain my night vision I was surprised to see a flurry of black legs scuttle into the woods.

Something screeched, and I jumped back and readied my sword until I realized that it was, in fact, a swarm of spiders that were beginning to attack the Endermen, and I watched in bewilderment at the sight before me.

"Scree?" I felt something hairy on my leg, and realized that the black furry arachnid looking at me had one green eye and one blue eye. "Mr. Spider!" I exclaimed, gently nudging him off of me. "Did you come here to save us?"

The spider tilted its head and blinked all of its eyes at me at once as if to say, "Obviously." It let out a battle shriek and charged at one of the Endermen, sinking its fangs into the tall monster's shoulder blade. Rex and I followed suit, and I slashed through a red-eyed Enderman, making it become a ball of scarlet mist and disappear into the air just like Duncan did.

I reached out to wave my hand at the spot where the aura vanished, and didn't notice the Enderman coming up behind me with a raised fist. Something blue and shiny whizzed by my neck and lodged itself in the enemy's throat, and sparks arced through its body, making it convulse on the ground repeatedly before turning a dull mint green and vanishing.

I turned and smiled at Mech, who gave me a wink and a thumbs-up, before blushing heavily and running away with a swish of his agility cloak. Since Mr. Spider and his army of companions entered the fight the tables were turned greatly, and I watched as they quickly took down a pale blue-eyed Enderman within seconds.

After throwing Rex a porkchop so he could regain his strength, I charged at a group of the tall black creatures and spun around in a circle, letting the momentum from my heavy sword cleave through them, and I could almost feel the different auras they dissipated into.

By now most of the extra Endermen that had appeared from deep in the forest had been killed, and I looked around to see Flu the Enderman standing above a fallen Will, about to land the finishing blow. Luckily Rex pounced on her before she could carry it out, and was pinning her arms down with his thick paws.

I stood over my old friend, and I could almost see the expression in her solid orange eyes change. "A-Adeline?" Flu the Enderman groaned. "Is that you? I don't wish to die again... I beg of you..."

"Flu!" I kneeled down. "How did you...?"

"The Enderdragon's mind-control is very powerful..." Flu winced. "I am barely resisting it... for my mind is much stronger than my body...

"In case the Dragon regains control of my mind... please listen to my words. I... I knew Shadow was an Enderman for a long time... for I have the ability to read other people's auras... or lack thereof... Shadow's is purple, if you didn't know... that mean-" Flu's head jerked to the side, but she pulled it back with what looked like great effort. Talking faster now, she added, "That means he is mysterious and holds a lot of secrets. And that he is an Enderman, but that was not the point... I just thought I should inform you of that-"

"That wasn't planned!" I heard Darcy yell. "This isn't fun at all!" In a blur so fast I could barely register, she rushed forward and grabbed Flu's neck from under me, ripping it from her upper body. The orange-eyed Enderman didn't even made a sound as she vanished with a burst of topaz light.

I stared for a minute, then something in me broke. Daemon-Lux was at such an angle that I grabbed the handle and with one quick movement, shoved it directly through the Enderwoman's stomach. This, I knew from experience, didn't puncture any of her vital organs, therefore she wouldn't die instantly.

I lifted the vampire blade upward, feeling strength flow through me as Darcy's life slowly drained away. "Speak." I demanded, my blue-green eyes surging.

"Wha..." the Enderwoman rasped. "What do you want me to say...?"

"Anything."

Clumpy, violet liquid was brought forth from the creatures mouth with a hack. "Haah... you're a powerful one... Adeline Jones... and with your... comrades... I do believe you will achieve great things. I was a human too, you know... I can remember now... I was a normal girl at a normal school, just like you... lonely, not worth talking to. Those are the people that the Dragon preys on, people that feel that they have hardly a purpose in life... I can tell you that Shadow was never a human, but because he was born from two Endermen that were once human he can become one. I-" Her pink eyes closed and I thought she had died until she opened them again. "I believe in you, Chosen One... defeat the dragon and free all of the lost souls so they can fulfill their purpose..."

And with that, Darcy's head tipped back and she was released, becoming an aura once again and vanishing to who-knew-where. I laid down my sword and put my head down, attempting to keep myself calm as post-friend-death trauma began to creep through my head.

A noise sounded from behind me, and I turned to see the swarm of spiders and Squirt the Enderman run back into the forest. Before Squirt disappeared, he turned and waved at me, then soundlessly vanished between the leaves. The Wither, once it realized the action was over, dropped Shadow and floated away into the depths of the woods. The Enderman made a small noise, then shrunk back to his original human form. Shadow closed his eyes and appeared to fall unconscious.

Mech stood and helped Will up, who was still a little dazed from being assaulted by the mind-controlled Flu, and I stroked Rex's back as I sat against a tree. I took a piece of steak out of my backpack, and as I held it up while I took out a second piece of meat for me, an arrow flew right through the center of it and pinned it to the tree.

I looked up, terrified, and saw Claire standing at the edge of the clearing, her large blaze-rod bow in her hands and Baelfire floating behind her.

"Hi, guys!" she said as if nothing had happened. "What did I miss?"

I have her a stern, suspicious look. "Where were you?!" I demanded, tempted to jump up and pin her against a tree.

She tilted her head, probably attempting to act cute so I wouldn't rip her face off. "What do you mean? I was just taking a little night walk... is that a problem?"

"Problem?!" I snarled. "You just missed... you... everything! Why did you leave?"

"Well, uh... I was finished collecting supplies, so Baelfire and I went on a walk through the forest to see if we could find any other caves or something... why are you getting all pissy at me? What happened?"

"It's... it's a long story," Will sighed, standing next to me. "Help Shadow up, will you Mech? Let's just go home... I'll explain once I can get in bed."

* * *

><p>PHEW. That took way too long. D: Let's just get on with the questions and I'll give a few more announcements. Let me go over the rules again: If your review is nothing but a question, I'm going to ignore it. Okay? Okay.<p>

**To the Fourth-Wall-Repairman: *revives* How do you repair the fourth wall everywhere? Or do you have colleagues or something?**

Fourth Wall Repairman: Uh, yeah...

**To the Enderdragon: You're awesome. PURPLE FIRE? Are you happy you can breathe purple fire?**

Enderdragon: I suppose.

**To whoever's holding Notch and Herobrine: Are they a pain to hang on to, considering that they're gods and all? How are you keeping them restrained?**

Darcy: Just a bit of experience power. ;)

**To Nyx: Do you think you'll miss your mother? What do you think about Shadow?**

Nyx: I d-don't really remember my mother, b-but I love Shadow a lot and I h-hope I can fight next to him when I'm b-bigger and stronger!

**To Daemon-Lux: Are you really a vampire blade? That is, can you drain the energy of things? How do you feel about Adeline?**

Daemon-Lux: Yes. And I have no feelings because I am a sword and an inanimate object.

**To a random dead Valkyrie: Do you feel betrayed by Acuity? Did you fight her?**

Valkyrie: I feel that whatever happened was for the best.

**To the Sun Spirit: Were Adeline and co. a challenge? Did you enjoy fighting them?**

Sun Spirit: Do not speak of those hooligans to me.

**To Herobrine: How are you holding up with the Endermen?**

Herobrine: I think we'll escape soon. I feel like I'm getting my powers back.

**To Notch: Have they killed you yet? :D**

Notch: Nope!

**To Lt. Acuity - How beautiful did you think an Aetherian sunset was? It would have been lovely for you to see the last one. *opens arms for hug***

Lt. Acuity: I assume it's the most beautiful sight in Minecraftia... sigh... *hug*

**To Notch & Herobrine: What does scrambled dragon egg taste like?**

Notch: I'm not sure. o_o Chicken?

**To Will: Have you ever wondered if you have an alter ego in another universe that befriended Mech's alter ego but then got infectd by an endermen and stabbed him in the back?**

Will: What...? o_O

**To Notch: How do you think the Enderdragon came into existence? Or do you know and you're keeping it a secret? :0**

Notch: I won't tell you; it gets pretty graphic.

**To Adeline: How do you feel about being the Chosen One, and do you think your friends will be able to help you in the End itself?**

Adeline: Good question! I don't know why out of all people they picked ME as the Chosen One... maybe it's my hair... anyway, I could never have gone this far without the help of my friends, and we're gonna try and get as far as we can! :D

**To Will: How the heck can you weild a huge weapon like Timothy?**

Will: Faith, trust, and glowstone dust.

**To Flu: Y U so wimpy in the frightful web of terror?**

Flu: You try being bound in a web containing hairy, poisonous beasts!

**To Cameron: Whats your fave PSP game?**

Cameron: I have to say Need for Speed: Most Wanted :D

**To Mr Spider: Can I ride on you if I have a skeleton skull on?**

Mr. Spider: No.

**To Ghasts: WHY CAN'T I RIDE ON YOU :(**

Ghasts: Because we don't like you.

**To Enderdragon: Can I ride on you? **

Enderdragon: No. Get out of my sight.

**To Mech: I dare you to dance and sing Gangnam Style. Right now. Right in front of everyone.**

Mech: No.

**To Adeline : Is your favorite color red by any chance? Because you seem to love that phoenix armor and Daemon-Lux...**

Adeline: Red is too strong of a color for me. I prefer blue.

**To Herobrine : Are you bipolar or do you just love torture? BTW, you're awesome.**

Herobrine: Why can't I be both? ;) And thank you, I'm honored.

PAAAAH. That took a long time. SO. ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Summoners! My League of Legends account goes by the name of 0Smugleaf0 :D If you wanna play with me you can hit me up.

I should probably make a cover sometime.

The next chapter will hopefully not take as long as this one did.

Okay? :D Okay. If you don't hear from me soon, Merry Christmas!

PLASMAAAA! *smokebomb*

FMF :3


	20. Won't Stop 'Till We Surrender

Yo guys! :DD I'm SO sorry this took so long, and I know I say that for every single chapter, but I wanted to make some of the scenes just right. You'll understand later.

Anyway, if you haven't read my announcements, the last two chapters are going to be released at the same time for maximum effect. But before I do, the first, I dunno, three or so chapters are going to be completely redone, as I hate them and they need to burn in a fire. And in case you scroll past this part, which you shouldn't, I'm going to say the following at the end too: When the last chapters come out, in order for me to not punch a wall when all I get is "Great story" when TMD is done, I'm going to be organizing a survey. I'll post the questions at the end of this chapter, but you are not required to answer them. Just to get you thinking when the epilogue has been finished.

That is all. You may now skip this tedious part unless you reviewed last chapter.

**Replies to Reviews:**

katnissbraid: Heehee, thanks bro ;3

bowtiesarecool99: Yeeah, except I have ugg-style boots now because they're comfy. MOBILE FOUNTAIN LOVE TRIANGLE YES

HPE24: Don't worry, Shadow will be safe. :3 And don't die.

Mellifluousness: There is no such thing as too much awesome.

AstuteSage9: Oh, right. Sorry. If I'm not lazy I'll try and fix that mistake later.

StarsOfMagic: It was? :D That's comforting. And I'll try to keep that humor in, although these chapters are gonna be pretty serious. Furthermore, I wasn't going for the creepy-unknown part of Endermen as much as I was going for the devious-henchmen part. But thanks anyway!

Omega02x: Awww, thank you! :3

exb756: No, Don't trust anybody. And you should play Amnesia on Skype sometime. XD

Sicomba: For Point 1, no, not really. Point 2: Thank you, and Point 3: Thanks again :3 I didn't want people to forget about him.

XGUY110: If you think it's more boring, then cool. Sorry. I don't know what you want me to do. :P

CyanSkies: Hahaha XDD And I'll send Flu a hug for you. :3

MechanixAngel: Oh, you don't, do you? ;3 And yes. But when you're writing it I might want to change some things if you have TOO much freedom.

xoxLEXIxox: Most of this I answered on Skype, but I'll still reply. I have ugg-style boots now, for the exact reason you do, for the comfiness. And furthermore, BURN THAT SHIP DOWN. I DON'T LIKE HIM. NYARGH. Otherwise, thank you. :3

RupeeOfMadness: I wondered where you had gone! D: And I'm alive on dA now.

BecauseOfRobertBorden: If you don't know already, I'm going to try and make the first few chapters less boring. But where did you go? D: Why only the first two chapters?

percyjackson21: Awww, thank you! :3 And as for your question, the second one is correct. I'll get into it more when I'm writing his version of TMD.

GJVIRGO: Thank you! :3

Poke Crystals: A beautiful pumpkin pie? Oh stop it, you. :3

AshBrie13: Thanks! :DD

Hope those are actually being read... ._. Now, onto the story! About time, too.

*poofs*

* * *

><p>Chapter 20: Won't Stop 'Till We Surr<strong>END<strong>er

**(Small A.N: This won't make a lot of sense right now, but before you read this, open up Youtube in another tab and look up "Pokemon Black and White - Unwavering Emotions Extended". When a bold sentence in parentheses shows up, immediately play it, then keep reading while it's still playing for added effect. Thank you very much. -FMF)**

After we found out Shadow wasn't exactly human, it ended up not really affecting everyone's relationship with him. Except for Claire, who had a small panic attack because she was worried they couldn't have children when they escaped Minecraftia and got married. Yuck.

Furthermore, I had collected a ton of Ender pearls from the battle, which I could turn into Eyes of Ender to put into the portal that was located somewhere. There was some blaze powder left over from our trip to the Nether and in Shadow's secret stash of potion ingredients that he kept hidden for whatever reason, so we could make enough of the eyes to activate the portal and have some left over.

The only problem was that I had no idea how to use the Eyes of Ender. I knew how to make them from Will's book, but it said nothing about how to use them to find the stronghold. That was a little frustrating.

At the moment, we were taking a small break from adventuring for a few days so we could gather our strength on the final journey to the End. Most of that time was spent preparing food, or training on various mobs that were weakened from the End disease. Almost every monster we came across was covered in purple blemishes, or at least had a few spots, and because it infected their mind, they were considerably less strategic and usually blundered about without any purpose. If one of them saw us it wouldn't try to ambush us like they usually do, it would just walk up and attempt to kill us, which never worked. It was a little sad, actually.

Back to the present. Currently, Shadow was using up the last of his ingredients to make a ton of healing and strength potions, and Claire was busy sharpening her skills at using a bow, which were already pretty good, but since her blaze rod bow was rather large, and she hadn't used it in a few days, she needed some extra practice.

"I said no!" I protested, folding my arms as I watched the sun reflect off the water.

"No, really," Claire argued. "Put that apple on your head."

"I won't do it."

"Would you rather I use your left eyeball as a target?" Claire asked maliciously, aiming her bow until the tip of her silver arrow was almost touching my nose.

"Fine..." I huffed, taking the fruit from my cousin's hand and balancing it on my head. After stepping back about fifteen paces, I closed my eyes and braced for impact.

_Fwipp! Shplunck!_ The arrow hit directly upon the center of the apple, then continued in a straight line at least twenty more feet and sunk into the trunk of a tree.

"Impressive!" Someone said behind me, and I turned to see Mech taking the apple off of the arrow and biting into it. "I think you can come inside now, Claire."

"Hey, Mech!" I greeted. "Did you finish harvesting everything in the greenhouse?"

"Every last strand of wheat!" He grinned his signature smirk, which for some reason made me a little uneasy. "I'm about to enchant our weapons, if you want to watch."

"I think so," I looked at Claire, who attempted to shoot a cow standing on the beach about a hundred or so feet away, and hit it right square in the eye like she had threatened to do to me earlier. Without even so much as a moo, it fell to one knee and vanished in a puff of smoke like all animals did.

"Nice one!" I said, giving Claire a small round of applause. "I'm not getting that for you."

She pouted at me, but walked down the beach to retrieve the steak as Mech and I returned to the house. Shadow was still making finishing touches on his potions, and Will was somewhere under our house finding more diamonds.

"Here's the enchanting table," Mech said, gesturing to a small stand in the corner of the room. The table was obsidian purple, the top of it shining blue as if it were made of diamond. Floating above it was a leather-bound book full of strange encryptions. Bookshelves surrounded the table, and from them thin silvery symbols flew into the book and onto the pages, as if it were writing new chapters by itself.

"This is pretty cool," I said in awe, watching as the symbols merged with the page and generated mysterious text. "How do you use it?"

"Do you want me to enchant your sword as an example?" Mech said. I hesitated, not trusting him with Daemon-Lux for a brief moment, then I sighed and grabbed my vampire blade, which had been leaned up against my bed in case I needed it in the middle of the night.

I handed it to him, and he almost stumbled as the blade fell into his hands. "This thing is heavy," he said curiously. "How do you even swing it?"

Funny, I didn't think it was that heavy. "Not sure. Can we get to the point, please?"

"Right..." He set the sword on the enchanting table, and the book began to fiercely flip pages as if it were in a hurricane. It stopped at a page full of the same odd script that was flowing into the book from the shelves surrounding it.

"Hmm..." Mech pondered, drifting a single rugged finger across the text. "How about a sharpness enchantment? Nice and simple. I'm not sure if I could do fire aspect, it's pretty complex... and you've got fire in you already."

When he said that he turned and grinned at me, and I felt myself turning red. "Shut up. Are you gonna enchant my sword or not?"

He sighed. "Yeah. Stand back." I took a few paces backwards and he closed his eyes.

"_Kwi ithquenti di wer treskri paluren svern vur vhir,_" The incantation that flowed from his mouth barely sounded like his own voice. "_Levex nomeno kalina cayosin mrith dout ioth mitne sina vur shala coi ekess xkhat vi wer oth di carak vi darastrix, wer vaess di vi drihli rekisix, wer earka di vi orn xiiva._"

Part of the silver writing on the book flew off the page and surrounded my sword, then inserted itself in the blade, engraving it with the mysterious language. I picked up Daemon-Lux from the table, and examined the writing. "Wow. Uhm... thanks a lot, I guess. How do you do that, anyway?"

Mech remained silent for a second, still facing the enchanting table, and I poked him in the shoulder. He flinched, and turned around, clutching his head. "Ugh... sorry," he groaned. "Enchanting really takes it out of you. And to answer your question... I'm not sure. It just comes naturally to me. Like speaking in English."

"That's so weird," I said, putting my sword back in its original spot. "Hey Shadow, you almost done?"

The black-haired boy turned around. "Oh, um... yeah, I think so," he said, blinking rapidly as if he had caught himself falling asleep. He looked down for a second. "I-I'm sorry. Ever since... last week... I just haven't felt right here, like you guys don't trust me anymore. I wish that never happened."

"Hey, chill out, bro," Mech sat down next to Shadow. "We're not mad at you. Actually, it's kinda cool that we got a former mob here with us."

Shadow laughed dryly. "Thanks," he said, still looking a bit sad. "That helps a bit."

"Well, I'll leave you guys to it," I said after a brief pause. "I'm going to go downstairs and make sure Will hasn't fallen into lava or anything."

"I'm pretty sure he hasn't," Mech shrugged, his attitude darkening a bit. "I mean, he's always had a way with exploring and stuff. If we just left him down there he could probably survive."

I could read Mech like a book. "Yeah, but I'm not. I'll make sure to check up on you guys later."

"Yup, wonderful." He wasn't even looking at me anymore, so I called Rex, who had been taking a power nap on my bed, to my side and we ventured forth into the mineshaft.

Claire had made some renovations to the way down; now it was lined with stone brick and had a set of stairs spiraling down neatly. There was also a railing made with spare cobblestone so nobody tripped and fell to their untimely death, which had worked so far. The first small cavern you came to when you reached the bottom of the stairs, with the small pool of lava and water, now contained chests full of food and weapons in case something happened above ground, such as a creeper explosion or a nuclear fallout.

I took the stairs two at a time, my footsteps and Rex's claws echoing down the vertical tunnel. Will was most likely somewhere in the left half of the mine, since the right half was pretty much stripped of its minerals and we didn't want to mine any farther for safety reasons.

I reached the entrance to the mine and approached the pool of lava and water, watching the hot bubbles of molten rock spurt up and come back down with a sizzle. Sometimes a small glob of lava would end up flying over the obsidian barrier and into the water, where it would become a small cobblestone pebble with a large sputter and vanish in a puff of steam.

If I listened closely, I could hear the loud clanging of Will's mining pick (he only used Timothy for battling) emanating from somewhere to the left, just as I suspected. I wandered down the tunnel and tried to detect which staircase the sound was coming from. The way our mine worked was we used the natural formation of our cave as guidelines, and mined staircases down to a certain level in the earth that Mech had once said contained the most ore. The bottom of the staircase then leveled out and sometimes branched out from there. So it was very easy to get lost down there.

Will happened to be located in the tenth staircase, and appeared to be pretty deep down, because all I could see at the bottom was a layer of mist. Rex and I began the long, cautious descent down to bedrock, making sure that we didn't lose our footing on the steep steps and ended up getting our skulls split open.

It took a few minutes to reach the bottom, but once I did I met Will standing only a few feet away with his back turned to me. Even though he was close enough to touch, we were so close to bedrock that I could barely see him through the suffocating darkness that a torch could barely penetrate.

I gestured for Rex to stay, which he understood, then silently snuck up on Will and tapped him on the shoulder. He let out a yelp and could have jumped all the way up to the Aether if the stone wasn't there, so he hit his head on the ceiling instead and turned around.

"Hey," I grinned, waving as if nothing had happened.

He laughed when he realized it was just me. "Oh, hey!" he replied, placing two blocks of cobble down for us to sit on. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Just coming down here to make sure you were still alive. It was kinda getting awkward upstairs with just me and Mech and Shadow."

"Right. It's super obvious that he's head-over-heels for you. Whenever you guys are in the same room you could cut the sexual tension with a knife."

I laughed. "You know, we used to be best friends when we were kids. For whatever reason I had completely forgotten about him until the other day. I had this dream about him that brought it all back."

He looked down and traced the patterns on the cobblestone he was sitting on, the torchlight reflecting off his glasses and masking what he was feeling. I kept talking to break the silence. "I get those a lot. Flashback dreams, I mean. I'll just get these really quick blips of me as a kid playing with my imaginary friends or drawing a picture of something that I can never remember when I wake up."

Will remained quiet for a few moments, then looked up and said, "You had imaginary friends?"

"Yeah..." I said, turning pink. "It was kind of stupid. I forget what they were or their names but I had an entire army."

He smiled a little, but still seemed a little upset. "Are you okay?" I asked, starting to get worried.

The silence was threatening to choke me with its awkwardness. After a few seconds of hesitation, Will took a deep breath and said, "I-I don't know... it's just... whenever you talk about Chr- Mech, or I catch him looking at you when you don't see... it just..." He sighed, and said rather quickly, "You know he stares at your lips whenever you talk?"

"Huh?"

"I don't know... it just seems you two have this strong bond or something, and that you guys are just so... meant to be, or something, and it makes me really, what's the word, depressed? Jealous? No... maybe hopeless is the word."

I didn't know what to say. Looking down in my lap, I mumbled, "Sometimes I think about how I have these weird romantic issues with every guy in this group..." I could feel wetness wanting to spill down my cheeks. "I'm such a slut! Why don't I j-just go and sleep with all of them?! I mean, might as well!"

Will grabbed both of my shoulders and rotated me on the cobble block so we were facing each other. "Don't ever say that again." he said, gently but still demanding. He wiped a tear that had rolled down my face without me noticing with his thumb. "You're not a slut. You didn't know other guys would come along when you met Shadow. Or that Mech would come along when you met me. You didn't know."

"I-I guess you're right..." I sniffed. "I thought I had gotten over Shadow once he and Claire started dating... but once I realized that he had been watching over me ever since I got here and making sure I was safe... I don't know, it kind of resurfaced."

"I understand," Will replied. Man, was he awesome.

I changed the subject. "...How long has it been since I got here?"

"Well," Will thought. "I met this group about... three months after I woke up on a beach. And since days and nights are slightly shorter, I've noticed... I spent an entire day counting how many hours days and nights were once..."

"You have too much free time," I joked, and he laughed before continuing. "A day is about ten hours and a night is about seven."

"And we had been there for maybe around three months before you showed up, then."

"Right. So, let me do some math here..." he stared at the ground for a while, then concluded. "It's been about a year, then."

"Really? So that means... Today's my birthday."

"It sure is," Will said, and Rex decided that he should probably un-stay and sat down next to me. I scratched his head and thought for a minute. "I don't feel fourteen..."

"So... uh..." Will stammered, fidgeting and turning beet red. "H-Happy birthday. I guess... uh... yeah..."

This reminded me of those cheesy romance movies where when a couple can't think of what to say, and one of them states something obvious about the weather, or how stunning the dramatic sunset in the distance is. But since we were at the bottom of the mineshaft, the only thing I could stare at was the beauty of the darkness that threatened to suffocate us if someone didn't break the terribly awkward silence. So I decided to cut the tension with my metaphorical knife and leaned forward, our lips connecting. Creeper explosions went off in my head, and Rex yelped surprisingly.

I could barely see straight when Will pulled away, his expression completely the opposite of what it had been minutes earlier. "Your breath really stinks," he commented, adjusting his glasses.

"You don't say?" I laughed. "What did you expect me to smell like, cinnamon buns?"

He laughed, and I bit my lip, still feeling the pleasant post-kiss tingling that you felt all over you. "You know..." I started. "I was always told that when you were young you didn't really know what love was... that fairy tales and Hollywood made you think that it's always love at first sight and then you live happily ever after..."

"Some don't," Will polished his glasses on his shirt, something he did when he was anxious. "Like most of the girls at my school. They pretty much just jump on the good-looking guys because they're, like, programmed to do that, you know? And vice-versa. Is that why girls wear makeup?"

"I think so," I replied. "I never did though. Claire always packed it on like a second face, but she somehow made it look good, unlike lots of girls at my school who just looked like dolls."

"You don't need makeup anyway," Will tilted his head. "What would you do with it?"

"Stop being corny," I blushed, giving him a light punch on the shoulder. "But as I was saying, this kind of is like a fairy tale, if you think about it. Dragons, magic," I looked up at him. "Knights in shining armor."

"Ppsh," he scoffed. "I'm not that good at fighting. Like Mech said, I'm the tank who absorbs all the damage. You're the knight in shining armor, if I do say so myself."

I laughed, and Rex barked happily. "So... to the point..." I scratched the back of my head. "Uhm... uh... I think..." Speak, Adeline! "I think, I uh... maybe..." Dammit, spit it out! "... I think I love you."

His eyes widened. "... Are you kidding?"

"No, I'm serious," I said, feeling like a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. "But, uh... you know.. if you don't... then... I'll just..."

"You know what, shut up," Will gave me a kiss on the forehead and made me turn an attractive shade of scarlet. "I love you too," he answered shyly, giving me a smile that would have looked goofy to the popular girls at my school, but to me, it was prize-winning.

~(|)~

"How many do you think we'll need?" Mech asked, dusting blaze powder from his hands. "My back hurts from slouching so much."

"Then sit up," Claire rolled her eyes, setting aside an Eye of Ender. After Will and I returned from the mine and assured Mech that we hadn't done anything serious, we began to craft Eyes of Ender for the journey to the Enderdragon's domain. I wasn't sure how many we'd need, so we had been spending hours crafting as many of them as we could, using the Ender pearls that had been collected during the big fight with the Enderdragon's henchmen.

Seeing as how we would be leaving soon, we had all of our armor and weapons on. My phoenix armor had adjusted as I wore it, so it now fit very comfortably against my skin. Shadow, being quick, didn't require any armor, and his potions and cloud staff hung off of his toolbelt, easily accessible. Claire insisted that she didn't want any armor for whatever reason, unlike extremely paranoid Will, who crafted an entire suit of diamond armor and had it enchanted by Mech, who wore his agility cloak and therefore could dodge most attacks.

I set aside another Eye, totalling my collection to five. If we added up all of the others that the rest of the group had made, there would be about twenty, which was probably going to be enough. Nyx, Shadow's black moa, rested her head on his shoulders, and the former Enderman fished a few Aechor petals from his sweatshirt pocket and fed it to her. She snapped them up and was quiet.

The moa had grown considerably since we returned from the Aether; she was almost as big as an ostrich, and had grown needle-sharp teeth and dagger-sized talons. When needed, Nyx could run almost faster than Tala, and the two pets raced each other along the beach daily. Mech, however, could beat them both while wearing his agility cloak.

"I think we're ready to leave," I said, shoving the Eyes in an easy-to-access pocket in my backpack. "Do we have everything we need?"

"Pretty sure," Claire said, slinging her bow and quiver of arrows over her shoulders. "Where are the slimes?"

"Slimes..." My eyes widened. I had almost forgotten about Sploosh! Where was he? "Oh crap, oh crap... where is he?! Sploosh?" I began to run around the room in circles, so did Claire, looking for the gelatinous creatures. Suddenly, something stirred in the back of my mind.

_Adeline?_ I heard a man's voice say. _Hey, is this working?_

I freaked out for a moment, then realized it was Notch. _Yeah, I hear you,_ I tried to make the sentence stand out from my other thoughts, like they were actual objects in my imagination._ I'm not sure if I'm doing this right._

_I can hear you,_ Notch replied. _Listen, I only have a bit of time. Good job on killing the Enderdragon's little helpers. She was in an outrage, the beast was rampaging around the End, roaring at the top of her lungs and making quite a racket. She has resorted to looking after me and Herobrine herself, so there's definitely no way you can rescue us._

_Oh, that sucks,_ I replied._ So what's up?_

_I overheard her talking to some Endermen that are, like, superior to the others but weren't in the group of spies since they were too old or something. Her army of Endermen is almost complete and she has figured out a way to travel to Earth. Adeline, the Enderdragon is going to rule your world from Minecraftia if you don't hurry. Are you preparing now?_

_Yeah,_ I said. _I lost my pet slime and I'm looking for him._

_You're going to be a horrible parent,_ I almost heard Notch shake his head disappointingly._ Anyway, there's no time for that. You need to get to the End NOW. ...Actually, that's pretty much impossible, so just get over here, like, as fast as you can._

I sighed and stood up. _Alright, I'm on my way, I thought,_ and then said out loud, "I just got a mental message from Notch. Don't ask, we need to start heading out right now."

"But what about-" Shadow protested, as he had started looking for Splash.

"Adeline's right, we've spent too much time here," Claire said. "Hey Mech, can I have my bow back?"

"Sure thing," he said, putting his lightning knives into the front strap on his backpack and handing Claire her bow, which now had rune engravings on the front of it. He must have enchanted that too.

"Looks like I won't need these anymore," Claire took one arrow out of her quiver and threw the arrow holder onto her bed. Before I could open my mouth to question her actions, she added, "Mech put an Infinity enchantment on my bow. See, watch," she kicked open the door and fired the single arrow, which hit a flower on the grass and flung the blossom right off, pinning it to the tree. "Wait for it..." Claire held up a hand, and suddenly the arrow reappeared back in her clenched fist. "See? Isn't that awesome?"

"Yeah, cool," Will said from behind me, making me jump. "Now let's go."

"For once, I agree with this guy," Mech said, patting my boyfriend on the shoulder. Will tensed as if Mech's touch was poisonous and inched closer to me. "Come, Tala!"

The female wolf barked and trotted out the door, followed closely by Rex. Claire ran to her blaze shelter to grab Baelfire, and Shadow hopped onto Nyx, who was now large enough to support his weight, and probably another one of us.

Once my Gravitite boots touched down on grass, I took an Eye of Ender out of my backpack. As I fished around for the objects, which had minimized in my backpack, I touched something else, a sharp pain travelling through my index finger. I carefully took the sharp thing out.

Squirt's knife. Since it was an object from Earth, it didn't shrink to conserve space like the other things in my backpack did. I rotated the blade in my hand; it was still sharp, as if Squirt hadn't needed to use it much before he died and gave it to me. Sucking the bead of blood that had appeared on my finger when it poked me, I put the knife back in my backpack sadly and took an Eye of Ender out.

The pixellated Eye grew in my hand until it was about the size of a tennis ball. The orb was a bright aqua color, and the very center of it was a bright emerald green, with a catlike pupil in the middle. "What does this even do...?" I wondered out loud, and as I went to toss it up into the air, the thing flew up until it almost touched the clouds, and began to look around as if it were an actual eye. "Guys, look!" I alerted, pointing to the sky as the object scanned the area. "I don't know what I did, but-" Before I could finish, the Eye took off to the right, and I ran after it, the rest of the group running behind.

It was difficult to watch the Eye in case it changed direction and avoid running into a tree at the same time. The added agility I got with the Gravitite boots helped a bunch, and allowed me to jump to the side with one foot if I found my face too close to the trunk of a tree. Eventually the Eye stopped mid air and dropped back down to the ground as if it were tired, though I couldn't catch it in time; it hit the ground and shattered into hundreds of tiny shards.

"...should we throw another one?" Claire asked, nudging one of the pieces with her shoe. "Here, let me do it." She took an Eye out of her bag. "Go, Pikachu!" she joked, tossing the eye up into the air. It did the same thing as the first one; looked around, and began to zoom in the same direction we were heading. I guess the other one just ran out of energy or something.

I faintly recognized the area we were in; Shadow had led me this way when we went mining at the beginning of my journey. We passed the clearing where he found the fallen feather of Nyx's mother, and eventually, the Eye stopped at a place that I had been to a few times.

"Hey, this is that cave we went to!" I exclaimed. "The one with the dungeon and all the gravel?"

Shadow and Claire nodded, and I caught the eye of Ender before it fell to the ground. Rex sniffed the orb as I held it, and I gently threw it into the trees for him to fetch as we sat down to take a small break. Will split some porkchops and we all nibbled at the meat as Rex ran back and forth with the Eye, carrying it gently in his mouth as if he knew how delicate it was.

I ended up throwing it too hard and it began to follow its way towards the Stronghold by floating into the cave and making its way down the tunnel. Since I knew that cave didn't' have any branches and ended at the dungeon I wasn't worried about following it and watched the clouds as Rex sat himself in my lap.

Everything was quiet as we conserved our energy for the adventure ahead of us that would most likely end in a vicious battle that I was currently doubting the odds of.

"Guuuuys!" Claire moaned, her impulsive nature overcoming her. "Let's DO something! I mean, while sitting, but we need to talk or something."

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" Mech rested his head on his knees and picked a yellow flower out of the grass, picking off each petal until splotches of yellow covered his shoes.

"I don't know, let's talk," Claire thought. "Does... did... anyone... watch Adventure Time?"

"Oh my god, I LOVE that show!" Mech exclaimed. "I'm kind of like Marceline. Back at home, I used to play bass guitar."

"You hipster," I said cheerfully, and he laughed. "Actually, Mech, you kind of remind me of Finn. Appearance, voice, lust for battle."

"Eh, you're more like Finn than I am," Mech tried to argue modestly, but Claire chimed in, "Actually, you kinda sing like him too. I mean, post-Autotune."

"I guess..."

"No, seriously! Guys, watch. Mech. Sing something from Adventure Time."

"If you say so..." Mech thought for a moment, then closed his eyes. _"I can't keep pushing this down any deeper~_" He sang, and Claire seemed to recognize the song and started to whistle a retro-sounding tune along with him. "_Why do I keep trying if I can't keep her?_"

I remembered that episode. Finn was really depressed because he had a huge crush on Princess Bubblegum, but she didn't like him back, mostly because she was five years older than him and they may or may not have been in the friendzone. Aside from the age difference, it sounded a little like...

_"Every move that I make is just another mistake, I wonder what it would take, because it feels like there's a hole inside my body, like there's a hole inside my heart~_" Mech's eyes opened and made contact with mine, and I felt a sudden urge to get the hell out of there before I was eaten up by the awkwardness. I could feel Will and Shadow's eyes boring into me as if they were lasers, and I felt myself getting up and mumbling something about needing flowers.

After I knew I was behind enough trees that the group couldn't see me, I curled up and let out a huge sigh. Why was this happening? Maybe to others girls, a bunch of guys having a crush on you would be awesome, and it did provide a big ego boost, but in reality, it really sucked. I felt like such a heartbreaker, even though I loved Will more than anything.

I looked up from my knees, wiping the moisture from my eyes, and noticed the sky growing dark. We had left in the morning, the sun couldn't be going down already. I stood up, and realized it wasn't darkening like it was sunset.

"Adeline?!" I heard Claire yell from where I had left. "Get your butt over here right now, this is really freaky!"

I ran back, which wasn't too far away from my hiding spot, and flinched as my cousin punched me in the shoulder. "What the hell was that?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing," I said. "What's more important is the fact that... oh... crap..."

The sky was now almost pitch black, but it wasn't dark. Similar to the small time before a huge thunderstorm hits, where the sky is dark but the ground appears as though there is light hitting it, which gives everything an extremely creepy atmosphere.

"Uh... guys?" Mech started to say, but he was cut out by the sound of thousands of Endermen running through the forest, searching for us. Their goal: most likely to dismember us and mount our heads on their fireplaces.

Before I could issue a command, something large and black burst through the trees, and stopped just long enough for me to recognize its form; the Wither, the thing that had held Shadow captive while the group of Elite Endermen revealed his true form.

The creature was truly hideous, and became even more so as all three of its jaws unhinged like a snake's and revealed hundreds of needle-sharp teeth, some sort of dark red slime dripping from between its fangs that I prayed to Notch wasn't blood.

Claire screamed, and Will knocked some sense into us by shoving me forward and shouting, "RUN!" Causing me to stumble, and nearly hit my head on the low entrance of the cave. The tunnel only had one path until it reached the dead end...

The dead end.

It was too late to remind everyone that this cave abruptly ended, so I just kept running, hearing the footsteps and pawsteps of everyone behind me. I heard something explode, and I turned to see the Wither firing lethal-looking black fireballs that exploded with the force of ten creepers, causing gravel to fall from the ceiling and land behind us, blocking any chance of escape.

I realized the gravel was somehow remaining attached to the top of the cave, even though Will's book told me it was one of two blocks that were affected by gravity, the other being sand. Maybe it was a glitch, seeing as how we were still in a videogame. Claire realized this, and shot an arrow at the gravel, which sent a bunch of it tumbling down, blocking the Wither's path. From behind us, we heard it let out a furious roar that sent chills down our spines, and we rushed to follow the path of the Eye and try to outrun the thing.

The gravel looked like a wall of tissue paper to the Wither, and it only took one of the fireballs to burst through the barrier and continue after us. In a panic, Claire began shooting her single arrow at it, and it seemed to be doing quite a bit of damage, making the monster let out an otherworldly grunt of pain that sounded more like a block of iron hitting a wall.

We got to the dead end, and memories came back as I saw the hole in the wall leading to the dungeon, and I noticed the Spider Queen was gone. The Eye of Ender was bouncing off of one of the walls, and Will swung at the stone with Timothy. Nobody hesitated for a moment as we kept running through what was apparently the Stronghold, and I could almost feel the Wither gaining on us as I demanded my legs to keep working.

Suddenly the floor burst from under me as the monster fired one of its projectiles, partially hitting my leg and sending my flying through the air. My entire body began screaming as I hit the ground, fire surging through my leg and making my knuckles turn white as I clawed at the floor, looking for something to grab onto.

Before I could, something ended up grabbing on to me. I felt something hot and wet drip onto me as the two smaller Wither heads clamped onto my arms, making sure not to rip them off. My friends stepped back, their faces white as they looked on in fear.

"_I have you at last,_" a voice that I assumed was the Wither's hissed, and it echoed through the halls and made Rex's fur stand on end. "_The Enderdragon was beginning to worry that you were indeed more powerful than her, and sent me to retrieve you so she could simply slaughter you in person_."

"What a coward!" I growled, screeching through my teeth as my injured leg twitching uncontrollably, oozing what looked like black smoke. "She's no-"

I felt its teeth begin to press harder into my shoulders. "_Continue, please,_" it hissed, and I flinched as I could hear the hatred pouring from its mouth. "_I would very much like to rip your arms from their sockets and getting the job done right here and now. But Mistress demands she sees you, and I will stop at nothing to bring you where you belong._"

**(Everyone, begin your Youtube video.)**

Everyone was quiet as I put my head down and accepted defeat, until I heard the clank of diamond boots step forward. "No." I heard someone say, and I looked up to see none other than Will standing in front of me. Timothy fell out of his hand with a clatter. "Take me instead."

"Wh-" I struggled. "Will! No! You're insane!"

"Shut up," he commanded, and I was shocked into silence. "I won't let you guys end your adventure this early."

The Wither tilted its head. "_Wh-what is this?!_"

The farmboy stepped forward. "Remember when we were in the Nether and I risked my life to gather glowstone for you? I think that was my reason for living; to do anything for the people I love, even if my own death will save them."

"WILL! YOU IDIOT!" I screamed. "DON'T-"

"I told you to be quiet," he said, stepping forward. "Anyway, here's your present." Will clasped a beautiful gold and diamond bracelet around my wrist, and I felt hot tears begin to flow down my cheeks. "Happy birthday, Adeline. Now let her go."

"_This is madness..._" The Wither dropped me as if his heads had lost control of them, and I fell to the ground helplessly.

Will turned to me, the eyes I had loved so much now cold as though he was afraid of feeling. "Don't cry, Adeline. You're too strong for that. Tears put out your fire. And you need to keep it strong."

He turned around to face us. "Be brave everyone. Do it for Squirt, for Flu, for Zoea." He closed his eyes. "And for me."

"WILL!" I yelled. "NO! I LOVE YOU!"

"I know you do." He said, taking his diamond helmet off and tossing it to the ground. "And I will love you always. Goodbye."

"_No! NOOO!_" Black smoke began to pour from the Wither's eyes and mouths as it roared in pain, and it burst into dark flames just as its teeth dug into Will's neck and he became a firework of navy blue light.

I stood up slowly and stepped back. This wasn't happening. Will was not dead. He wasn't. I needed to go somewhere. Down was nice...

"Mech, grab her so she doesn't hurt herself," Shadow said quickly, and I felt Mech grabbing my shoulders as I felt myself stumbling.

"Don't touch me!" I cried, needing to get away. Away from Mech and his broken heart, away from Shadow and his emotionless expression, away from everyone. The dark room to the left seemed just fine as I sprinted into the safe haven of solitude, ignoring the protests from my friends.

I don't remember when I started sobbing, but eventually I did. Deep, heaving sobs that hardly came with any tears as though they had run out. I could almost hear Will telling me not to cry, but I pushed it away as I wrapped my hands around my legs.

As I thought about it, he was braver than any of us put together. Stronger than twenty Enderdragons. As powerful as ten Withers. But he never had the chance to unlock that potential.

**(Dear readers, you may now stop your music.)**

Something crawled over my thigh, and I barely even flinched as I picked up a small, squirmy thing by its tail. The grub-like creature had small silver spikes running down its body, and it squeaked at me as it wiggled in my hand. Feeling no remorse, I threw it and heard it bounce off of something, and I found the strength to stand up and examine that it was.

The surface the bug-thing hit was slimy and bright green, and it seemed to be stretched over something as if it were a barrier. It was transparent, and upon squinting I saw what looked like a frame laying on the floor, a pool of lava under it.

That was the End portal! We were so close!

My friends took that time to walk in. Rex brushed his head on my leg and I pet him, but I felt as if I had lost the ability to smile, even when he licked my hand.

"What are you looking at?" Claire questioned, walking up next to me. "Ew... what even...?"

She took a torch out of her bag and held it up, and I was confused to see the slimy green wall was a lot bigger than I expected; it covered the entire surface of that wall, not just the small entrance. It also happened to have swirls of other colors, although they were hard to examine under the yellow torchlight.

"What is that...?" Mech said, and I felt his presence on the other side of me as he tentatively poked the slime, and we all stepped back as the entire thing rippled, making a sickening noise like a hungry stomach.

"Mech! What did you do?!" Shadow cried as the barrier continued to growl, and we looked on in shock as it began to collect into a large mass, sliding down the wall and becoming a sort-of cube shape on the floor.

The colors I noticed were blue and red, and my horrors were confirmed. "_Massterrr...?_" A voice echoed in my head, and Shadow and Claire flinched as if they heard the voice too. "_You caaaame for meee... Maaasterr..._"

"Oh... my god..." Claire said, stepping back more in a panic as the creature began to creep its way forward, folding upon itself and sloshing back and forth as it it couldn't control its own body. "_They took me awaaaay, Maasterr..._" It said, sounding like three differently pitched voices layered on top of each other. "_Aaaand they made me faaall asleeeep... I woooke up and I was attaatched to this waaall... hoping you would fi-i-i-_" Suddenly it started shuddering, and two eyes appeared on its front, one of them smaller and higher than the other. "_Maaaster... Sploosh loooves you but he must dooo this..._"

The grotesque mixture of our pet slimes leaped at us with a surprising agility, although some of it was left behind on the floor in a lifeless puddle of gloop. I unsheathed Daemon-Lux and sidestepped the strong but not too accurate attack, and assumed a battle stance, as much as I did not want to fight what was once my beloved pet.

Nyx let out a bone-chilling screech and bared her dagger-sharp teeth at the slime-monster, but it was unfazed as it swung a part of its body at my leg like a rope, and it attempted to trip me once it wrapped around my ankle. I slashed at the stretched arm of slime and it disconnected from the rest of the body and fell to the floor like a limp noodle.

The deformed slime let out a distorted screech and wailed, _"Maaaster... you huuurt meee... I thought we were best friends foreeeever..._"

Guilt threatened to take my sword out of my hands and give the poor creature a hug, but that would only mean I would be eaten. "Maybe if you stopped trying to kill me, Sploosh." I said coldly, gripping my vampire blade tightly, feeling a small amount of energy wash back into me after I dealt damage to the beast.

"Hey! Flarp-brain!" I heard Mech yell, and the slime turned and received a lightning knife directly in its larger eye, and we all flinched as it let out a bloodcurling screech like a child in pain, shuddering as if it were jello in a bowl as electricity coursed through it.

The attack greatly weakened it, but it still managed to shoot tendrils of goop at me, and it was too fast for me to run as they wrapped around my ankles and wrists, sending me into the air upside-down. Daemon-Lux fell out of my hand as it became slippery with slime.

Tala growled, but the hybrid of all our slimes put together didn't seem to notice. "_I got yoooouu, maaaster..._" the monster said in a light, eerie voice. "_No more running noooow..._ _It seems we are no looonger friends..._" the arms began to draw me into its body, and I braced myself as I felt the sickeningly warm form of the monster against me. I held my breath as I was drawn into it, and attempted to stay alive as long as possible without suffocating inside the body of the beast.

Claire shot several arrows and that did a ton of damage, and I was able to grab them and run them through its body, causing a ton of pain for the possessed body of my pet slime. Shadow took that opportunity to summon two cloud guardians from his staff, which swirled around the giant slime and shot jagged icicles at it, puncturing its gooey flesh and almost hitting me. I was beginning to run out of air as I saw Baelfire shoot flaming rods along with the ice, and just as my vision was beginning to darken, I heard a scream inside my head that caused me to snap back into reality. "_I'm sorry Maaaaster... I love yooou... Sploosh loves yooou..._" and then the monster dissolved into a gooey multicolored puddle and freed me from inside it.

I laid there in the middle of the goo for a moment, regaining my energy, until Rex tried to lick the slime off my helmet and I pulled myself up. Oddly, I felt no triumph or happiness from winning the difficult battle like I had with previous fights. Only emptiness.

"Good job, guys!" Claire said, stroking Baelfire's side victoriously. "That was just training for what's coming up next." Fistbumps were traded all around, but I ignored Mech's gesture when he offered me one, to his frustration.

"Cheer up, Adeline," Mech said worriedly, but I didn't answer, simply fiddling with the gold chain on my wrist. "I know how you feel... my-"

"No you don't," I interrupted. "Stop trying to pick up the pieces, Mech. Will's dead. You can't expect me to forget about him and just start off on a clean slate with you like nothing happened."

His face fell. "But... but I-" He didn't finish his sentence, and lightly touched the hand that was fidgeting with my bracelet.

Out of instinct, my free hand shot up and hit him straight in the jaw. "Don't. Touch me." I snarled, picking my sword and backpack off the ground. "I don't love you, and I don't think I ever will. Leave me alone. All of you. Just... just leave me alone." I felt tears build up around my eyes and cursed myself silently for being so dramatic, stalking off into the room the slime monster was covering.

The portal stood in the center above a pool of lava, a few Eyes of Ender already fit into some of the circular spaces inside the blocks. The brick was covered in moss and cracked around the edges, making the shadowy place look as though it would crumple around me at any moment.

I faintly saw my friends sitting down in the center of the room to rest, and I reminded myself to apologize to them later. After sitting down in a corner, petting Rex as he came into the room to comfort me, I took a porkchop out of my backpack and chomped at it grudgingly, and took a second one out to feed Rex.

Rex's tail thumped at the stone floor, the only noise in the room, and, fighting off another surge of anger at what had happened so far, I punched the wall behind me. Something skittered behind it, and Rex's ears perked up and we both waited a moment. I hit the wall again.

There was definitely something behind the wall, or many small things. It sounded a lot like a house infested with an angry family of mice. Maybe the sound was from the same thing that I had thrown against a wall when it climbed up my leg, so I stopped hitting what was probably their home and examined the were two Eyes already inside, as if someone tried to get to the End and changed their mind, and I took a few Eyes of my own out of my pocket.

I placed one in the frame and it fit perfectly, making only a slight rolling sound as I dropped it in. We had made way too many, I thought as I placed more inside the frames, and as I was about to put in the last one, I felt someone's presence behind me.

"...I'm sorry," I sighed, not turning around. "That was stupid of me."

"No, you're fine," Claire said, and Baelfire rumbled in agreement behind her. Playfully, she added, "Drama Queen."

Touche, I thought, not smiling like she was trying to get me to do. "Well... here goes nothing..." I took a deep breath and placed the last Eye into the frame.

As soon as the teal sphere was placed in the hole, the empty space inside the portal was filled with a dark substance that swirled and glittered like the night sky.

"Is everyone ready?" I turned around, my vampire blade in my hands.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Mech said, clutching a lightning knife and grinning at me, even though I had just rejected him minutes before. Tala growled along with him.

"Sure am!" Claire answered, nocking an arrow in her bright orange bow and smiling as Baelfire came up from behind her. "Are you, Shady?"

"I guess so," Shadow replied, a solemn look on his face as he clutched his cloud staff in one hand and a potion in the other. Nyx cooed behind him and placed her head on his shoulder.

Rex barked next to me, nuzzling the hand holding my sword, but even that couldn't bring me to smile. I sighed and turned back to the portal. "Let's do this then," I said. "Mech, we could use one of your songs right now."

"Nah," I heard from behind me. "I need to save my energy."

I could the shadow of a smile tug at my lips, but it wasn't enough to lift my spirits as I closed my eyes, spread my arms, and dove into the portal, knowing I didn't have much to lose anymore. For all I knew, they were all dead.

* * *

><p>;_;<p>

I hope the death scene was good enough, if not cliche as hell. Don't yell at me, I had writer's block for at least three days until my best friend gave me this idea so I would stop freaking out over it. Okay?

And I'm terribly sorry, but I'm not doing questions this chapter. Nor am I the last two. They just take way too long and hardly anybody reads them except for the ones that post questions. I want you guys to actually review my story, not just ask my characters questions. Thank you.

And if you missed me saying this up at the top of the page, I will say it again. When TMD is done I will be posting a survey. The questions will be the following, and some might be added/deleted once the last chapters are released.

1: Who is/was your favorite character in the story and why? And no "Because he/she's awesome", please. They all are. ;D

2: What are your pairings? They don't have to be canon (Actual relationships, you could ship ShadowxMech if you really wanted to. I kinda do I MEAN WHAT), even though you will know when the story ends.

3: Who's death affected you the most/made you cry the hardest? Unless none of them made you cry, then that's upsetting for me, because that was my purpose. ._.

4: What is your favorite quote from the story? It can be funny, or emotional, or romantic, or inspirational, etc.

5: What plot twist surprised you the hardest?

6: Would you want to meet FMF in real life? And if you could, what would you say to her? (I'm not planning anything, I'm too young to visit all of you guys, as much as I would want to. ;A;)

7 (And finally): If you could give this story a rating from one to a hundred, what would you give it?

You don't need to answer these questions now, just remember them and think carefully about your answers so you can fill this out when you post your final review on this story. Unless you review the Acknowledgements page. :3

See you then!

PLASMAAA! *smokebomb*

~FMF


	21. Legendary

Thank you so much for being patient, guys. I know I've been pretty lazy, and unmotivated, and... a whole bunch of other stuff. But hopefully these will be worth the wait. Maybe. I dunno. I'm pretty proud of this chapter.

So you guys don't have to scroll through reviews, I'm not going to reply to specific reviews this time. If you said something along the lines of "This is a fabulous story! Please write more!" Then thank you. You're awesome. :)

Also, this chapter does not have music like the last one. If you have an appropriate battle song, then feel free to play it. Otherwise, enjoy! :)

FMF

* * *

><p>Chapter 21: Leg<strong>END<strong>ary

**(Note: If you have not yet read the rewrite of Chapter One, go read it right now. Otherwise you'll be super confused. In fact for maximum effect just reread the whole stor- I'm just kidding. Carry on. Thank you. :D)**

Being hurled out of a portal face-first onto cold stone isn't the most pleasant sensation, especially when you're dangerously close to losing your mind and going on a murderous rampage. My helmet absorbed most of the impact, but it still took a moment for me to regain my senses and look around for where my friends landed.

Upon turning around, I found the portal had vanished, trapping us in the End, which didn't faze me at all. Claire was brushing the wrinkles out of her jeans a few feet away, appearing completely unharmed. Shadow was helping a dazed Mech onto his feet, while Will... Will was missing. I panicked for a moment before remembering that I wouldn't be able to find him.

Rex and Tala were shaking the impact out of their fur while Nyx nuzzled a growling Baelfire. Everyone who had survived the journey through the stronghold (Here is my cue to sigh) appeared mostly fine, so I took that chance to observe my surroundings.

The End was a very desolate place, made up of blank off-white stone that contrasted the endless black sky splattered with faraway stars. Huge obsidian spires towered over us, casting dramatic shadows over the entire scene and emphasising every sudden movement. There were no Endermen present, excluding Shadow, probably because they had been deported to the Overworld to search for us.

It was too quiet here. The only sound in what seemed like the entire dimension was the almost silent tapping of our feet on the stone, which appeared to be absorbing most of the sound. I could almost hear my slowly rising heartbeat in the middle of the noiselessness.

Something began to light up in the distance, a slight yellow glow that brightened as we approached it. Rex tentatively sniffed the ground as if the Enderdragon would burst forth from the stone at any moment and rip us to shreds, and every second she didn't heightened my jumpiness.

However, when we reached the glowing orb, which was crackling with energy, we were still alive, so it didn't seem to be a trap. Still cautious, I stepped forward and held out a hand, hesitantly placing my hand on the bright lutescent sphere. Squinting through the blinding light, I discovered the orb was transparent and containing something inside of it, which moved furiously as if struggling to get out. The light constantly shifted, and it happened to dim long enough for me to figure out the shape. It had a wispy, feminine form, like a bright yellow ghost, and when it noticed me it pounded both hands into the orb, a space opening up where a mouth would be, as if it were screaming.

"Are you trying to tell me something...?" I whispered, and the figure flailed at its confinement, its mouth opening and closing rapidly but no sound coming out.

"What is that?" Mech walked up next to me and examined the now-still form, tilting his head as its hands slid down the rounded edge and rested at its sides. "It looks like it's trapped inside, do we need to get it out or something?"

"I don't trust it," I replied skeptically, turning around to observe the obsidian pillars. "Don't touch it, it could be aggressive."

"If it's in the End it has to be aggressive," Shadow spoke for the first time, shrugging. "I would know. I mean..."

"It's okay, Shady, you can express your Enderman-ness whenever you want," Claire cooed, laying her head on his shoulder. I resisted the urge to vomit on her. "I don't mind. And you guys don't either, right?"

Shadow's annoyance was evident, and I tried to break the silence by turning back to the glowing yellow ball. "It's not moving anymore," I stated. "Is it dead?"

"Probably just exhausted," Mech replied, nudging Rex back as the wolf tried to sniff it. "You know when we were fighting all those Endermen and they released these weird people-like glowing things when we killed them? It looks like one of those."

"An aura..." I said, watching as the form inside the ball flickered as if losing energy. "But where's it from?"

"I say we try to find out," Claire instructed. "Scout around and see if there's anything in the area."

"Why should we scout around?" I asked, unsheathing Daemon-Lux to make myself more comfortable. "There's nothing here."

"Maybe there are more of these. Let's split up and see if we can find any."

"That's a stupid idea!" I scoffed. "Go out by ourselves in the most dangerous place we could be in right now? Are you asking to be killed?"

"Why are you so defensive all the time?" Claire folded her arms. "I'm just suggesting, you don't need to yell at me every time you don't like an idea."

I wanted to lift my sword and cleave it right through her neck. "I'm not, you're the one who's making the obviously dumb ideas. It's like you're trying to make me mad."

"Wow, who died and made you in charge of everyone's decision?" Claire argued.

"I've been in charge since the start, and you know it."

"Oh, because you're The Chosen One and all that? Better bow down and clean your boots, then; everyone make way! The Queen of Minecraftia is coming through!"

Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Mech and Shadow quietly edging closer together and farther away from us so they would avoid being murdered by whoever snapped first. "Keep this up and I'll hurt you."

"No you won't," Claire laughed, but it sounded more like a sinister cackle.

"Try me."

"I can beat you up easy!"

My armor and sword gleamed with the yellow light of the contained aura. "You wanna go?"

An unfamiliar smirk crossed Claire's face, her eyes becoming cold. "Bring it."

Confused, I lowered my weapon. "What do you mean, 'bring it'? We never fight, you're my cousin. My best friend."

It seemed as though the air around us dropped in temperature as Claire's features darkened. "...You stupid girl," Claire's bag fell to the ground. "I'm not your cousin."

"Wha...?"

"Minions! Seize them!" Claire commanded, and I yelped as dark forms appeared from behind the towers and bound our wrists and ankles with dark purple energy. Before I could yell in protest, my mouth was gagged with the same matter.

Claire became enveloped in violet light and lengthened in form, growing larger and taller until she rivaled the obsidian columns. As she fell to four legs, huge bat-like wings sprouted from her back and two pairs of horns erupted from her head.

When the glow faded, my cousin's body laid lifeless on the ground, and a majestic black dragon at least thirty feet tall stood in front of us.

In my peripheral vision, I could see my friends being caught by other Endermen with different eye colors. A short one with green eyes, another with bright scarlet, and the one behind me had eyes of the deepest navy blue.

Weren't those...?

"Mmmmm!" I tried to protest. "Mmmmm? MMMM!"

"Struggling is useless, Adeline," the Enderdragon hissed, beginning to pace back and forth in front of us, her streamlined tail swaying back and forth. "Dear me, this must be such a shock to you... Poor little warrior, so broken, not knowing who to trust or who will die..."

Mech tried to shout something, and the Dragon whipped her tail forward, the sharp spikes on the end barely grazing his face yet leaving bloody slashes down his cheek. "Didn't I just say struggling was useless?" she said, her empty purple eyes showing no emotion. "That goes for all of you."

Baelfire, who had remained still this whole time, floated forward, letting out a confused rumble. The Enderdragon turned to him. "You served me well, Blaze," she said, and without hesitation, she brought her massive clawed foot down upon him, causing him to crumble and dissolve into golden dust. "Mindless creature."

Nyx screeched with grief, and Tala and Rex ran forward to sniff at the remains of their friend. Cold, terrified shivers ran through my body._ Please don't kill Rex... Please don't kill any more of my friends..._

The Dragon began to pace again, examining every inch of us as we uselessly hung from her minions' iron grips. "You deserve to know what exactly is going on before you are all dead," she explained, shaking the leftover powder from Baelfire's remains from her claws. "Will! Bind them!"

More confusion gripped my mind as everything went black and I experienced the sensation of being yanked by my sinuses toward the location we were teleporting. Moments later, we were tied by crackling purple energy again to evenly placed obsidian towers that seemed to be there only to keep us contained. The yellow orb holding the unknown aura was still visible, but quite a long distance away.

"Much better," the Dragon said contentedly, the three Endermen that captured us standing still in front of her. "It was not difficult to pluck Will's aura from the Aether, navy is a rare color for you cowardly humans."

The blue-eyed Enderman showed no recognition as he glared at me. "As his death was a sacrifice, his aura wasn't programmed to go straight to the End and be reincarnated as an Enderman, you see," The Enderdragon continued. "I have altered the code of this world so everything works for me. I hardly have to lift a claw, other than when I am destroying everything you love. Such tedious work.

"The last amount of effort I need to use before Minecraftia is mine is to kill you," she continued. "But first, allow me to explain to you what has happened."

The Dragon's eyes glowed such a piercing violet they felt as if they were shooting a red hot needle deep into my eyes, and I began to feel a stabbing pain in the center of my head, as if something were digging through my scalp and trying to carve into my brain. Choking back a scream, I watched as the environment changed to a large castle in the Aether, where a bearded man and his white eyed brother stood at a table.

The large doors swung open and a woman with huge, pure white wings entered the hall, carrying a struggling boy who didn't look too happy. "I brought the boy," she said, performing a polite courtesy at the two men.

"Put him down, Acuity, you're making him uncomfortable," the blank-eyed man commanded. "That's no way to hold a boy."

"My apologies, Your Darkness," she said quickly, releasing the boy and causing him to be dropped rudely onto the white floor. "Would you like me to make anything for you three? A fire? Tea?"

"Some spruce tea for me, please," the bearded man said. "Milk and two sugars, if that's not too much of a bother. And can you make some with cocoa for the boy, here?"

"Of course, My Light," the woman named Acuity replied with a bow, flying out of the hall and up the spiral set of stairs.

The boy coughed once, reminding the two men about his presence. "Herobrine, would you mind helping the boy up?" the bearded man asked. "Acuity has most likely treated him roughly on his journey here."

Herobrine nodded once and strode over to the limp form, gently picking him up by the underarms as though he weighed nothing. "Are you injured?" he asked, shaking him slightly.

"Put me down!" the boy answered rudely, tearing himself from Herobrine's grip. "I'm perfectly fine."

"I beg your pardon," the bearded man replied, standing up. "That's no way to talk to a god. Herobrine here would have gladly disemboweled you and thrown you to the ghasts had I not stopped him." He turned to his brother, who grinned, revealing sharp teeth.

"Tell us your name, boy," Herobrine said coldly, clasping his hands together.

"Chris," The winged woman returned with the tea, and the boy named Chris edged away as she examined him curiously. "Where am I? Is this some kind of sick joke? Am I a science experiment or something?"

"Why, you're in the Aether!" Herobrine declared. "The place where my brother Notch rules! And no, I don't believe I'm joking."

"So... am I part of an experiment? Is this some kind of hallucination?"

Notch stroked his beard. "...In a way. Please, sit down. You'll be much more comfortable."

The lady pulled a very ornate white chair from under the table, and Chris tentatively sat, eyeing the two gods nervously. He smiled and mumbled a thank you to the woman, who turned red and flew from the room.

"My apologies for the rather awkward and violent introduction," Notch began formally. "It was not a very wise choice of mine to hire Acuity to deliver you to the castle, as she has not learned empathy and often expresses herself in violent ways."

"I've noticed," Chris sniffed the mug placed in front of him as if checking for poison.

"Continuing on, you're here because we would like you to do something for us. And notice I'm not asking you, because I chose you for this job and there's no other available person."

Sipping the cocoa tea, Chris mumbled from behind his mug, "Guess I have no choice but to say sure, then."

"Quite right," Herobrine said. "Where should we start?"

Notch stood up, "Allow me to begin," he said, walking over to a large majestic painting. The framed scene was of a peaceful forest, but unlike normal terrain, everything in the painting was edgy and geometrical, as if it were made of children's building blocks. After looking out one of the picture windows, Chris realized _everything_ was made of blocks. Except for him and the two gods, of course.

"Before you arrived here, what were you doing at the time?" Notch asked without turning away from the painting.

"Uh, I was playing videogames," Chris said, confused.

"Be specific."

"Minecraft, but-"

Notch snapped his fingers. "Aha! To put it simply, that is where you are right now. And before you say anything, it was not us who transported you from your world to ours."

Discovering the tea wasn't about to kill him, Chris drained his mug. "Who did, then?"

It was Herobrine's turn to stand, walking briskly to the opposite wall, which was draped in complex tapestries. What seemed like an assortment of seven or so differently shaped dragons were woven into the cloth with very fine detail.

"These tapestries were created by our most artistic Valkyries," Herobrine said. "That's what Acuity is. They're entitled, 'The Regeneration of the Enderdragon', which is the creature that brought you here. You see, the Enderdragon is a monster I created myself, to guard one of my scrapped dimensions: The End. Like most things I make, it began to get a bit out of control, but before I could delete it, it enslaved an entire species of monster and devised a plot to take over my world, and yours with it."

"That doesn't sound good," Chris said rather sarcastically. Herobrine didn't pick up on his humor and continued. "Unfortunately, the Dragon is near impossible to kill. To make sure The End remained safe, I allowed the Enderdragon to become an egg every time it is killed, which then hatches into a new dragon. That has happened several times, mostly from rebellions started by its minions, the Endermen." He gestured to the tapestry. Chris noticed each dragon had a different body, from one that resembled a serpentlike Chinese wyrm to a tiny lizard that looked like it could fit on his shoulder. Between each form was a mottled black and violet egg.

"This one is the current form, which is much more powerful and much more evil than the previous forms," Herobrine said. "Some of the forms had no evil intention and even wanted to help us guard Minecraftia, but we couldn't allow that to happen. The Seventh Dragon is much more cunning, and we must destroy her before she grows too strong and overthrows Minecraftia, and possibly your world with it. This is where you come in. Notch, pass me your scrying cube."

"Absolutely not!" Notch protested. "I will not allow you to lay your oily hands on my most valuable possession."

"There is no time for fickleness, brother," Herobrine said, massaging his temples. "Hand me the scrying cube. You may go polish it when I'm finished."

"If you must." Notch begrudgingly handed his brother a glowing translucent cube, the inside swirling with pastel colored fog. Herobrine concentrated, and blurred shapes began to form, eventually focusing and forming into a person.

"The Enderdragon cannot be truly killed unless the one in the prophecy does the deed. I don't write the prophecies, nobody knows who does, but I do choose the people in it. According to the prophecy of this millennia, in order for the Dragon to be killed, it must be defeated by somebody called the Hero, and the egg must be destroyed by the Chosen One, who will sacrifice themselves to save Minecraftia. If certain people don't do this, the prophecy will not be fulfilled and the Enderdragon will simply return with a new form, possibly even more powerful than ever before.

"It took many years to find the correct person that was strong enough physically and mentally to choose for the prophecy. You see, I needed to find somebody with the correct color of aura."

"Aura?" Chris questioned. "Aren't those, like, those things fortune tellers decide for you at fairs and stuff?"

"They may seem like something from fantasy, but they are indeed real," Herobrine scoffed at Chris' interruption. "The color of your aura determines who you are as a person, but as only certain people can see them, myself and Notch included, it is quite difficult to find someone with a certain color. I needed to find a person on Earth with a gold aura, which is the rarest one and is becoming rarer as your society grows weaker. After years of searching and waiting, I have finally located them." The blurred shape in the scrying cube focused and became an auburn-haired girl sleeping peacefully in a bed. "This is Adeline Jones, and your job is to find her."

"Adeline! I know her!" Chris gaped. "She was my friend! Do you know where she is now?"

"She is in the same place you once lived in," Herobrine answered. "When this vision is over, I will transport you back to your home, and you must travel to your old hometown and find Adeline. You need not tell her anything, as simply appearing in front of her will trigger the events for her to come here. Notch and I will do the rest.

"Chris, your close bond with Adeline and the goodness of your heart makes you the perfect person to make sure the prophecy goes smoothly. Your aura color has something to do with this as well."

"What color is mine?" Acuity came back and Chris gave her his mug to refill.

"Ah, yes. Your aura color happens to be silver. Gold and silver, the rarest auras, are known to be more compatible together than any other two colors, which is how you and Adeline had such a close friendship. Furthermore, when the two auras are in close proximity to each other and one of the colors is in a life-threatening situation, they join together and create a phenomenon known as a Platinum Aegis."

"Sounds mysterious," Chris said. "Go on."

"The Platinum Aegis is a large field that increased the physical and mental power of the people inside it," Herobrine explained. "By finding Adeline and helping her when she arrives, we hope when the time comes to defeat the Dragon, the field will trigger and she will have enough power to slay the monster."

"Sounds like a well-thought out plan..." Chris agreed. "So do I need to do anything after I find Adeline?"

"As you are experienced with this world, it requires little explanation," Herobrine said. "After finding Adeline, you must return to your home and play Minecraft again. The Enderdragon developed a sort of glitch in the programming of our world, that causes everyone that connects to it on Earth to be sucked in through their transmitter, or the computer, and into our world. There, they are programmed to die sometime after of natural causes - some more violent than others - and their aura, instead of going to the Aether, travels to the End. They are put into the bodies of Endermen and turned into soldiers, slowly building up into an army large enough to take over Minecraftia and Earth put together.

"By playing Minecraft, you will be able to go back into our world. Survive just as you would if you were playing the game itself, and find enough materials to travel to the Aether. Build a house there, then wait. Adeline will come."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked, skeptical of this complex plan.

"I have never been more sure in the 675 years I have been a god," The white-eyed man confirmed. "As bizarre as this plan may seem, you _must_ trust me."

Chris thought for a moment, taking the refilled mug of tea from Acuity and draining it. "...Okay. I'll do it. I mean- I have to, but I will."

"Excellent!" Notch boomed, yanking his precious scrying cube from Herobrine suddenly. "Remember our instructions, and good luck."

His eyes glowed a fierce white, possibly even more intensely than the Dragon's eyes had, and the light stabbed into my eyes, causing everything to go white. The scene changing to the inside of Aviskye's Jewelry Shop, and I spotted myself standing in front of a glass cabinet, while Claire stood before a case full of necklaces. It was as if I was stuck to the ceiling, looking down on the scene.

"You see," I heard the voice of the Enderdragon all around me, as if she were talking from a PA Speaker. "I had already gotten your Ender pearl necklace from one of my Endermen weeks before I found your location." I saw Claire take the teal pendant from its hiding place under her shirt and unclasp it from her neck, her eyes flashing purple as the Dragon influenced her actions. "It was so very easy to possess Claire using the pendant; her distant mind was so focused on her inner demons it was simple to sneak through and capture it."

She seemed to sense my bafflement, so she continued. "I enchanted the necklace so whoever wears it or is in its presence begins to lose control of their willpower and slowly bends to my command. A very easy magic, actually, requires hardly any of my energy. I was hoping it would begin to control you, but unfortunately, it was lost.

"It did, however, do part of what I had hoped for. The energy emanating from the pearl is connected to the End, which allowed my minions and I to watch your every move until Claire's body was fully under my control. I'm not entirely sure where the pearl ended up. Someplace dark, where we couldn't track it."

"I... I found it," Shadow mumbled. "I picked it up and put it in my chest under the floorboards for safekeeping."

"How sweet," the Enderdragon crooned. "So massive and destructive are the visions, they cause physical and emotional pain when transferred into your fragile little minds. How should I torture you next...?"

Even though struggling was apparently useless, my built up rage caused me to thrash around my restraints, attempting to loosen the bonds. As punishment, Will the Enderman stepped forward and gave me a harsh slap with a large, clawed hand.

"Will no longer has any recognition towards you, Adeline," the Dragon sneered. "He does not love you, he doesn't care about you, he doesn't even remember you. The power of love is not as strong as they think they say, is it...?"

Will slapped me again, harder this time, and the coldness in his blank eyes nearly brought me to tears. The Dragon continued, "At a twitch of my claw, what were once your friends will happily lunge at your throats and slaughter you, but that would be a rather unfulfilling way to achieve success, wouldn't it?"

I said nothing.

"There is nothing left in Minecraftia now," the Enderdragon ignored my agony. "The creation of the End portal caused a distortion in the void, which caused the monster pandemic you saw during your journey. It happened to be a convenient alternative to ridding myself of Herobrine's soldiers so they wouldn't get in the way. No more zombies, no more skeletons, only Endermen."

As she went on, I felt something fiddle with my bindings, and then the energy around my wrists disappeared entirely. As my hands were tied behind the obsidian spire, the Dragon didn't seem to notice they were now free, and I kept them behind the column so she wouldn't become suspicious.

Whatever untied my hands did the same to Shadow and Mech, then I heard a rustle coming from my backpack. The small, green-eyed Enderman - what was once Squirt - took his knife out of my backpack and threw it with excellent precision, hitting the Dragon smack in the eye.

The pained screech that followed left my ears ringing. "Go, Addy-line! Save the world!" Squirt cried, taking off in no specific direction.

"Betrayed me again, I see!" The Dragon hissed. "I've had enough of you!"

As she slashed clean through Squirt's body with her claws, turning him into a burst of green light that flew off behind a pillar, I picked up my sword and gestured to my friends to do the same. As the Enderdragon was distracted, we readied our weapons.

I felt a rush of adrenaline surge through me, and I realized the three of our bodies were surrounded by a bright crystalline glow. _The Platinum Aegis_, I realized, and when the Enderdragon turned toward us, I zoomed off to one side, faster than I had ever run before.

Everything about my body felt stronger, more agile, more powerful, and when the Dragon roared and swung at me with her claws, I parried them with my sword. A sharp ring rang out across the empty stone wasteland, and as I held her talons against my blade, that gave Shadow time to conjure Cloud Guardians from his staff.

With a frustrated roar, the Enderdragon whipped her streamlined tail at me, and the first thing I decided to do was jump over it. The power of the Platinum Aegis sent me flying at least twenty feet into the air, and I nearly lost control, had I not have been wearing my Gravitite boots. The newly-summoned Cloud Guardians swirled around the Dragon's head, not doing much damage but blocking her vision with frozen balls of ice.

As the monster attempted to get the ice spirits out of her eyes, I managed to leap up and slice a large gash in the Dragon's shoulder. Thick, violet blood burst forth from the wound as if it were under high pressure, and the beast let out a scream of pain, then flicked me aside with the blunt end of her claws, sending me flying a good twenty feet into the air.

Had I not been wearing my boots, I would have most likely broken my spine against the obsidian tower I collided with, but instead I clung onto it briefly and jumped off, landing smoothly on the stone. The deep purple spire had a strange pink floating crystal levitating on the top of it, which began to emit a glowing beam onto the Enderdragon's wound, healing it completely.

"Mech!" I commanded. "Use your knives to destroy those crystals!"

The blond-haired boy, who not been doing much up until this point, nodded at me and threw one of his lightning knives at the crystal that healed the Dragon. It was lodged directly in the center, and the huge explosion that followed caused the Enderdragon to roar in frustration, taking a swing at Mech and sending him flying right into one of the pillars. He seemed to have hurt his head badly, but he quickly stood up and shook it off.

As Mech sped off to destroy the many other crystals, he left me and Shadow alone to battle the Dragon. The explosion had sent me sprawled out on the stone, and I scrambled to get up as the Enderdragon prepared to squash me flat with her clawed foot. Before I was crushed, Nyx swept me onto her back and took flight into the starry sky.

The Dragon spread her wings as well and took off after us. She might have been bigger and stronger, but Nyx was faster. The black bird darted between the Dragon's claws like a falcon, seemingly taunting the beast with a click of her beak every time she dodged her talons.

Beginning to grow frustrated, the Enderdragon roared, violet flames erupting from her gaping maw. Nyx squeaked with fright and surged downward, the fire very nearly singing her tail feathers off. When the Dragon ran out of breath, Nyx retaliated by firing the toxic purple spikes on her wings, which studded the beast's scales and nearly knocked the Dragon out of the air. As soon as the monster regained her balance, she fired a second burst of flame, singing Nyx's chest, but my fire-resistant armor protected me from the heat.

The bird screeched in pain but remained aloft, firing more spines, although her desperate strike back caused her to miss most of them. "It'll be okay," I comforted, stroking Nyx's neck feathers. "Only a little bit longer. Just hang o-"

Using that opportunity as Nyx gasped for breath, the Dragon sped forward and locked her jaws around Nyx's neck, violently throwing me off. Terror seized me as I fell, although it was short-lived as Shadow summoned a Cloud Guardian to save me from certain death. I watched as Nyx and the Enderdragon tore violently at the other other's face, although the Dragon was clearly winning. Before Nyx died, she kicked her clawed legs forward, gouging out both of the Enderdragon eyes. She let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain and dug her claws into the cockatrice, which then vanished in a puff of feathers.

Another friend gone. I guided the Cloud Guardian down to my fallen sword and picked it up. Mech was now a faint shape, explosions roaring from the towers in the distance, and I watched as the Enderdragon flailed in the sky for a moment, attempting to regain her other senses.

"_Where are you?!_" The Dragon screamed, blind eyes still glowing with desperate fury. My sword scraped the ground slightly as I tried to run to one side, and she surged forward, missing me by only a few feet. Her tail tripped me and I fell onto my back, so I frantically scrambled backward. The Enderdragon heard my thrashing and stomped on the ground where she thought I was. I crawled backward, attempting to avoid the monster's feet.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Her claw sunk into a chink in my armor and straight through my shoulder, the first major injury I had experienced in this battle. Forgetting I was trying to be quiet, I screamed as the talon pulled out of my flesh, and could barely roll out from under the Dragon's rampage. Her tail crashed into an obsidian pillar, sending it toppling down, dust and debris blocking my sight. I pulled myself up and ran to Shadow, who was protecting Rex and Tala from the Dragon's wrath. The debris cleared, and I stood my ground, wielding Daemon-Lux with both hands. "Rex, come!" I commanded, and the Dragon charged towards the sound of my voice. My wolf and I ran forward, and as the Enderdragon lifted her claw to swipe at me, I grabbed Rex around the middle and jumped onto it using the power of my Gravitite boots. Realizing what I had done, the Dragon roared and shook her clawed foot to shake me off, but not before I jumped off it and onto her back. Rex climbed up her neck and onto her head, where he locked his jaws around one of her horns and pulled. It tore off violently, and the Enderdragon roared, spreading her wings and flying into the air. Knowing I would be thrown off, I did the first thing that came to my mind, which was to stab my sword right into the middle of her back and cling on for dear life, one hand on Daemon-Lux's handle, and the other uselessly clutching the gaping wound in my shoulder.

The Dragon writhed as she rose into the air, much slower than she had the first time. Her majestic soaring had now become desperate flaps, attempting to buck my sword and I off her back. Rex clung onto another horn while she flew and growling around it as he was thrown about. We weren't going in any particular direction, but the Enderdragon's thrashing was leading us toward the yellow orb we had seen earlier.

Shadow and Tala followed us cautiously, Shadow's Cloud Staff prepared to summon more Cloud Guardians in case we were in danger. After one last explosion in the distance, Mech returned, his face smeared with blood and soot. Spinning a lightning knife in his fingers skillfully, he flung it at the Dragon's neck, and it lodged in her throat.

"_No...!_" The Enderdragon rasped, turning away from where the knife hit her and flying recklessly in the other direction. She didn't go far before she plummeted to the ground, and the impact sent me flying off her back, leaving my sword lodged between her wings. Rex fell off the horn he was clinging onto with a yelp, and I caught him before he hit the stone. Mech sped over and helped me up, while Shadow stood behind and eyed the Dragon fearfully.

Growling ominously, the Enderdragon stood up on shaky legs, clouded eyes blazing with determination. "Keep trying, mortals!" she roared. "You will never defeat me, _never!_" Opening her jaws, she unleashed a bright purple inferno that was almost white, and I wrapped my arms around Rex and closed my eyes, bracing myself for the impact...

_Whoosh!_ I felt the heat blow around us and opened my eyes. In front of me was Zoea, the red-eyed Enderman, with a bright scarlet glow surrounding her, blocking the flames. The Dragon stopped releasing fire and hesitated, most likely confused that we were not screaming. Zoea took that moment to unleash a bright red beam from her hands, striking the Enderdragon in the middle. "Good to know you aren't dead, Boss," she said to me over the noise. "Go on and live a real long life, will 'ya?"

The Dragon roared in pain and attempted to run, but the beam seemed to root her in place. Baffled, I watched as Flu teleported in front of me, an orange ray bursting from her eyes and travelling through the Dragon as well, next to the red beam of light.

The creature in the yellow orb glowed even brighter and fired a stream of pale yellow, while the green aura that had been Squirt released a viridian flash. "Be strong, Addy-line!" His voice echoed while I gazed in awe at the rainbow that was forming before me.

Will, who had been watching in silence, seemed to relax, as if struck with a sedative, and his eyes deepened in color to a dark navy. He teleported next to me and slipped his hand into mine as he gave off an indigo burst of light. "I'll always remember you."

Suddenly, Shadow began to glow a bright purple and he looked at his hands in confusion as a violet beam hit the Enderdragon as well. The sky around us shimmered and then seemed to dim, and I realized that was the Platinum Aegis dissipating, as we no longer needed it. The shield vanished and Mech and I began to glow silver and gold respectively, firing the largest rays of light out of the group, hitting the Dragon straight in the heart.

The spectrum of light before us fused together into one huge beam, obliterating the Enderdragon's body into shards of glittering black dust. As the light faded, the remains of the ferocious monster drew back together and formed a large, mottled egg.

Hand still over my injury, I limped over to the egg and looked at it worriedly, my friends looking over my shoulder. "So... I have to destroy it now, right?" I asked hesitantly.

"I guess so," Mech replied. "Just stab it with your sword, I'm sure it'll break pretty easily, since the Chosen One has to break it, right?"

"But..." Shadow said almost silently. "But that vision... it said the Chosen One sacrifices themselves to kill the egg..."

"And I'm prepared to die for the greater good," I said, lifting my sword. I braced myself and plunged it downward.

_Thunk._

"Wh-?" My sword bounced harmlessly off the egg's surface as if it were made of concrete. I tried again. _Thunkthunkthunkthunk._ "It's... it's not working?" I began to grow frustrated, furiously hacking at the surface of the egg. "It's not working!"

"_Because you are not the Chosen One, mortal._" Suddenly, the yellow orb glowed brighter, and the object inside of it burst free, flying around the egg and eventually floating over Claire's used body. It looked at us almost sadly, then sunk inside of it.

With a gasp, Claire's eyes flew open, and she groaned. "...Where am I...?" she muttered, rubbing her head. "...Adeline? Who are these guys? Why do you have a sword?"

"Claire!" I ran over to my cousin - my real cousin - and hugged her, helping her up onto her feet. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you? It's a long story, but we need to-"

"I don't underst-" Before Claire could finish, she inhaled sharply and her eyes glowed a bright yellow. "_Adeline, you will not be able to destroy that egg_." The same echoey voice that came from the yellow aura reverberated through the End.

"But... but why?" I asked, confused.

"_You are not the Chosen One,_" answered the aura. "_You are merely the Hero, the mortal that defeats the Enderdragon's mortal body and trigger its egg form for the Chosen One to break. Your skill is no longer needed. It is the Chosen One who saves Minecraftia, not you._"

"So then..." I swallowed, which was difficult through my tightening throat. "Who is...?"

"_You are the Hero,_" The aura declared. "_Claire Willows is the Chosen One._"

Speechless, I waited for her to continue.

"_The Dragon knew this and took over Claire's body in hopes she could manipulate her into never finding out about her power. But Fate is the Dragon's weakness, Adeline Jones. It is Claire's destiny to sacrifice herself for the greater good._

"_Nothing will stop your cousin from dying, Hero. It is her fate. You must let her go, and allow destiny to occur. Let go, Adeline Jones._"

The yellow light faded, and Claire's eyes became her normal laser blue. "I know what I have to do now, Adeline," she said. "Please move away from the egg."

"N-no!" I protested. "You can't die, you're my best friend!"

"Best friends change. When I go, you have to move on," Claire grabbed my gently by the shoulders and moved me a few steps aside. "None of this is your fault. You did everything you needed to do, and when all of this is over, when I die, you have to let it go."

"But-"

"Goodbye, Adeline." Claire's body shone a blinding yellow, and she spread her arms like wings as her aura flew from her chest and surrounded the egg, causing it to crack and shatter into glass-like pieces. My cousin's auraless eyes dimmed to a lifeless grey, and they closed as she fell to the ground.

"Nononono..." I shook my head furiously. "Shadow, quick, get your healing potions, we can still save her-"

"Adeline. Stop." Shadow placed a hand on my good shoulder. "Her aura's gone. She's dead. You're the one who needs a healing potion, your shoulder is getting wor-"

"I don't care!" I yelled, the tears finally coming. "Let it bleed, I don't care anymore. My boyfriend is dead, I find out I'm just a useless pawn used as a meat shield so my cousin can save everything like she always does, then she dies! All this adventure caused is pain! I'm not going to be able to live with myself knowing I caused the death of people I loved..."

Despite my hopelessness, Shadow uncorked a bottle of pink liquid and poured the entire amount of potion onto my wound, which closed up painlessly. Mech, the whole left side of his head becoming a dark purple, put his arm around me, which I pushed off. "Didn't you listen to what the real Claire was saying?" Mech asked. "She said to move on. You can't live your whole life full of regret and sorrow. You saved the world, for God's sake! You should be proud!"

"But you know what? I'm not." I argued. "I hurt everybody I met here. Claire? Dead. You two? Most likely broken hearted. Zoea? Flu? Will? Squirt? All dead."

"What about Rex?" Mech said, picking up my quietly whining wolf. "He's not hurt."

"Oh, Rex..." my pet wolf placed his front paws on my legs and licked the tears off my face, crying as if relieved I was alive. A sob escaped from my chest as I hugged him. "Rex, I'm so glad you're alive, you're always so happy..."

A sound came from behind us, and I turned to see the End portal materializing into view, the midnight-blue vortex swirling in the center. I sniffed as I stood up, still holding Rex in my arms.

"I have a feeling this doesn't take us back to Minecraft," Mech said quietly, stroking Tala behind the ears as she nuzzled his leg. "Where do you think it goes?"

"I think it takes us... home..." I answered, stepping forward. "Back to where we belong."

It was quiet for a few moments. "So, I suppose this is goodbye, then?" Shadow whispered.

"I guess so," I replied. I turned around.

Mech bit his lip, then ran over, giving me a hug that might have crushed my ribs had I not been wearing armor. "Bye, Adeline..." he whispered, pulling away and looking into my eyes. "I'm- I'm going to miss you. A lot."

"...Yeah..." I looked away, his gaze still making me uncomfortable, even though I should have been used to it by now. "I will too, Mech. Chris. Whatever."

Mech turned to Shadow and hugged him as well, giving the Ender-boy a manly pat on the back. "Have a good life, man," Mech said. "I'll see you around."

"Maybe," Shadow answered.

"Nah. If I don't run into you guys, I'll start looking." Mech walked slowly up the stone stairs, Tala following. He gave us one final salute, then, agility cape billowing out like wings, he fell forward and vanished.

I watched the portal for a few moments, then Shadow cleared his throat. I turned around, and none of us said anything for a few minutes.

"Uh..." Shadow reached his hand forward. "You have an eggshell in your hair, Adeline," he mumbled, pulling it off. We both paused, then started laughing uncontrollably as memories came flooding back.

I don't know when it happened, but suddenly I found myself wrapped in very warm hug, and was surprised, because I didn't know Shadow had that in him. Unlike Mech's embraces, as if I would be murdered any second or dragged away from him, Shadow's were quiet and gentle; you could almost see the feelings radiating off his grey hoodie.

"I'll miss you guys..." I whispered. "And please don't touch my hair, that's one of my pet peeves."

"What?" Shadow was confused for a moment, then realized what he was doing. "Oh. Um. Sorry. My mistake. I'll... I'll miss you too."

"Yup..." Rex and I stepped onto the frame of the portal and looked down into the mystifying blackness of the vortex. "You coming?"

"I'm gonna stay behind for a bit," Shadow replied. "I can't just leave Claire's body here. It doesn't feel right."

"Okay..." I nodded. "Goodbye then."

"It's not really 'goodbye'," Shadow shrugged. "Not quite. I consider it more as an 'I'll see you later.'"

I smiled, and the last I saw of Minecraftia was a black haired boy in a dark hoodie smiling back.

~(|)~

The whir of machinery caused me to open my eyes, and I blinked as I adjusted to the vast amount of white the entire room was. I tried to open my mouth, but the only thing that came out was a deep raspy cough, as if I hadn't used my voice in years and forgot how to talk.

"Adeline?" a middle-aged woman rushed into the room. "Oh my days... Adeline, my baby, my precious little angel, you're finally awake!"

"M-mom...?" I managed to croak out, groaning as I was hugged for the third time in a row.

"Oh my goodness..." my face was peppered with Mom Kisses, and I resisted making a face. "You've been in a coma for almost two years now... the doctors were ready to give up on you, but you're awake! It's a miracle!"

Two years? For whatever reason, I wasn't surprised. It didn't matter.

I was home.


	22. Mending What Was Broken

Epilogue: M**END**ing What Was Broken

"Huh?"

Eyes flying open as if awoken from a nightmare, Chris gasped for breath, recovering from the vertigo experienced from going through a portal. He coughed once, then moved slightly so he was on his back looking up at the sky. The trees above him were much more detailed, and made out of sticks and leaves rather than cubes; it took him a moment before he remembered Earth wasn't made of blocks. Having lived in Minecraftia for what felt like years, it would most likely take him a few weeks to get used to the spheres and rounded edges of his home world.

Chris attempted to stand, and was rewarded with an ungodly ache all over his body as if he hadn't moved a muscle in months. The side of his head throbbed rhythmically, causing small lights to dance from the corners of his vision. Wincing, the boy tried again, ignoring the nausea that followed and slowly popping his knuckles as he sat up. He appeared to be in a ditch. Chris ignored the fact that he had somehow woken up in the middle of nowhere and tried to stand, immediately falling and stuffing his face full of dirt.

"Blargh!" he spat, wiping grass off his tongue and standing up again. Legs wobbling, he climbed out of the ditch, which took longer than expected, and onto a patch of grass right next to the road. "Hello...?" Chris called out uncertainly. "Can anyone help me?"

The roar of a car zooming past his face answered his call for help, and he was so startled he flinched backward and rolled back to where he had started. Swearing loudly, he wiped the grass stains off his knees and made his way back out of the trench and next to the road once more. He tried again, "Can anyone help me?"

This time, the next car that passed him slowed down and stopped. The window rolled down, revealing a nice-looking middle aged woman. "Are you lost, sweetie?" She asked, tilting her head. "Do you need a ride home?"

"Oh, um-" Chris cleared his throat, his voice raspy. "Yes, please. If it's not too much of a bother-"

"No no, it's perfectly fine," the lady waved her hand as if shooing away a fly. "Now, I assume you live somewhere around here? Where are you from?"

Where was he from? He scanned his horribly aching brain and discovered he had completely forgotten the name of his town. The faces of his parents. Did he even have parents? "I..." Baffled, he paused and scratched the back of his neck. "I... I don't remember..."

"You must have head trauma, dear... you're in quite a bad shape; there's a terrible bruise over most of your head. Were you in a car accident?"

"Maybe, I-"

"Here, how about you get in, honey? I'll take you to my house and clean you up, then we can find out where you come from, is that alright?"

"Oh. Okay..." Chris answered, opening the red door and stepping into the car, making sure not to get any dirt on the clean black interior. "Thank you so much, Miss..."

"Jones," the woman replied. "Just call me Mary, dear." They drove for a while, eventually escaping the dense woods, then Mary exclaimed, "My goodness, you look almost exactly like this boy my daughter used to play with when she was a little girl! Adeline, bless her little heart."

~(|)~

Shadow watched with a smile as Adeline and Rex jumped through the portal. It had been a long time since he was in the End, and for the first time in his life, the dimension was completely silent. The sound of his own breathing seemed to echo over the land, and to get rid of his paranoia he walked over to Claire's body.

He sighed. "So..." he began to nobody in particular. "I guess I should give you a little memorial, since everyone's gone. Um..." Growing unsettled, he gently closed Claire's eyelids. "Okay. Well, it looks like I never actually knew you. Since the Enderdragon was possessing you and everything. And... er... maybe if you weren't, I would have liked you more..."

He picked up her body, which was surprisingly light, and carried her over to the edge. "I'm going to stop talking to myself now, because that's weird. And this is kinda awkward. ...Even though I'm the only one here. So. Goodbye. Hope you have a good afterlife or whatever." He placed her limp form on the edge and rolled her gently into the Void, watching as she faded into black. Being a partial Enderman, he felt nothing.

Sighing, he walked slowly to the portal and stared into the blackness. Notch, he wished he could feel something. Endermen weren't known for their emotions. His Ender pearl was rudely torn from him, but that only made him unable to change his body. He could never change how his mind worked. When his best friend walked through the portal, when his girlfriend sacrificed herself... all he felt was emptiness. He, along with Chris, had done his duty: protect Adeline. Christopher was the white knight, and Shadow the black. He paced back and forth at the bottom of the small set of stairs. His mission was complete. He had nothing more to do. Shadow looked up at the blank sky and remained in that position for a while.

He wondered what it would be like to go to Earth. Adeline made it sound like a completely opposite place, like a parallel dimension. "Guess I'll never find out just staring into space," he said out loud, climbing up the set of stairs. Maybe his purpose wasn't complete after all. What if Adeline needed protection on Earth? Was Earth more dangerous than Minecraftia?

Closing his eyes, he jumped through the portal and found himself falling. With a yelp, he crashed into a tree and clung onto one of the branches, gasping. Upon further examination, Shadow observed the branches of the tree; rather than being cube-shaped, they were actually round. What was this enchantment?! Everything was so curvy, so detailed, the magnificence of it all left him so stunned he hardly noticed the branch break.

"GAH!"

_SPLASH._

Shadow surfaced with a sputter, the water travelling up his nose smelling very odd, like some kind of chemical. He stopped struggling and rolled onto his back, wondering what to do now that he was on Earth.

He heard a scream coming from the house behind him, then someone say, "Mom! There's a guy in our pool!"

_You can't be serious._

A male voice replied, "Stay there Adeline, he could be a serial killer. I'll go out onto the deck and make sure he's not a bloodthirsty criminal."

His eyes burning with that strange water, Shadow could barely make out a tall blonde boy brandishing a stick. "Hey, man! Took ya long enough!"

~(|)~

"Here, doggie!" Rex stared in confusion at the strange man pointing the loop on a string at him. "Come 'ere, doggie! Who's a good boy?"

The wolf backed away. _I'm not a good boy. I kill things._

He ran from the third man that tried to capture him that week, and hid in a bush until the chemical smell of the loop-wielding person faded. Where was he? He went through the portal and was dropped face-first in this strange place, where everything was so round and had many different smells. _Where is Adeline? Where's Tala?_

This wasn't going well at all. Rex whined softly; he had expected to be transported straight into the arms of his master and live a happy life with Adeline on Earth where she belonged. It seemed this would be harder than he had expected.

Night eventually fell, and the wolf curled up in his tiny shrub, shivering. A woman's voice sounded among the strange chirping noise he had never heard before, and he poked his head out.

The lady was surrounded by men with black boxes. "Eyewitnesses have spotted the two wolves running wild around town. Citizens are advised to stay indoors until these feral animals are captured and transported to a safe place."

Rex gulped, shrinking back into the bush. He dared not even breathe too loudly until the suspicious people who seemed to be out for him left. Wait a second. Two wolves? That meant Tala was somewhere around here too! Once the people had gone he stuck his head back out and sniffed the air, then let out a tiny bark.

Nothing happened. He barked again. This time, a silver head poked out of the treetops and barked back. _How did she even get up there?_

Tala barked again and jumped down from the branch, running happily to her friend and licking him all over. Rex pushed her off, assuming his serious position. _We need to find Adeline, he sniffed, gesturing across the road. Have you seen her?_

Her ear twitched. _I smelled Master coming from down there somewhere._ By Master she meant the blonde boy. Maybe he was with Adeline? He couldn't tell; Tala had a keen sense of smell, while he was better at fighting.

They ran in that direction, and he began to smell his Master as they got closer. Quick! We have to be quiet or the people will-

_CLANG! THUNK._

Rex yelped in surprise as he ran into a hollow silver thing, which tipped over onto the ground, releasing wonderful-smelling bags but making quite a racket. "There they are!" he heard from behind them._ Run! Run! Faster!_ He nudged Tala forward and let out his fiercest bark at the loop-holding men, who flinched and gave them time to escape. Rex's thick claws scrambled across the path as they bolted toward the house that smelled of their Masters, but he could feel his muscles, still quite sore from fighting, begin to grow tired.

The men were gaining on them. Rex willed his legs to go faster. _Go! Go!_ As they approached the front door, something sharp pierced his shoulder and he barked so loudly it echoed down the street. His senses dimmed and he slowed down, barely feeling the loop wrapping around his neck. I tried. I'm sorry Master.

"Hey! We're trying to sleep here, what's going on?"

Rex used the last of his strength to open his eyes, and he weakly wagged his tail as he saw Master standing at the door, a frustrated look on her face. _Did I do something wrong?_

"Good evening, Ma'am, I apologize for disrupting you," one of the men said politely. "We were just-"

Her eyes widened when she looked at Rex, and he wagged his tail again. She thought for a moment, then a very pretend look crossed her features, which confused him but seemed to convince the men behind him.

"Snowball! Duchess! Oh my goodness, where have you two troublemakers been?" She cooed, and Rex tilted his head. Adeline glared at the men. "The nerve, you should have asked if these were anybody's dogs before capturing them!"

"But Ma'am, these are wild wolves, you can't expect us to belie-"

"They're not wolves, you idiot! Haven't you ever seen a husky before?" Adeline wrapped her arms around Rex's neck, and he sighed in bliss, his mind fuzzy and growing darker from the sharp thing in his shoulder.

The man looked terribly guilty. "I'm very sorry, ma'am. We'll be on our way. You and your... dogs... have a wonderful evening."

Adeline narrowed her eyes as the truck left, and then the pretend look left her face. "Rex! Tala! I'm so glad you guys are alive!"

Rex gave his Master one last lick before a strong urge to sleep overcame him and he closed his eyes. Everyone had been reunited at last.

~(|)~ Fifteen Years Later... ~(|)~

The doorbell rang, and fierce barking replied to the chiming. A large dog, muzzle tinged with grey, scrambled across the wooden floor and barked gleefully at the guests.

"Down, Rex!" A young woman scolded, grabbing the dog by the collar. "Yes, I know, Uncle Chris is very exciting, but I don't want you to accidentally hurt anybody with those claws of yours." She pat Rex on the head and he huffed, relaxing his tense muscles. "Shadow! Where are the kids?"

A pair of socked feet bolted down the hall, a young black-haired man chasing frustratedly after them. "Willow! This isn't funny anymore!"

"Chase me, Daddy!" the girl giggled. Her hair - as black as her father's - streamed behind her like a river of ink. "Please?"

Shadow pinched his forehead. "Let's take a break from Chase and do something relaxing."

"Pleeeeeeease?" Violet eyes inherited from the girl's father shimmered with practiced charm.

"The appearance of the 'please' does not affect my answer," said Shadow sternly, lifting Willow up from under her arms. "Gotcha! Kieran! Get down here, please! Uncle Chris is here!"

"Ugh. Do I have to?" Willow's brother was older than her by a few years, and much less respectful. "I'm almost done beating the final boss!"

"You've been playing the entire morning, put the game away," Adeline attacked Kieran's messy brown hair with a wet comb. "Willow! Go say hi to Uncle Chris!"

"Yay!" the little girl squealed and opened the door, clutching the man's leg. "Whajjabringme? Whajjabringme?"

"Wow, kiddo, stop growing already!" Chris exclaimed, lifting Willow up and poking her tiny button nose, causing her to squeal. "Nothing this time, sorry! Did you make me any new drawings?"

"Oh, yes! I'll show you!" The small girl dashed to her bedroom to get her latest masterpiece, and Adeline placed mugs of coffee on the table, sighing heavily. "Can we talk...?" she asked Shadow quietly, tugging on his sleeve.

"Uh... if you insist," Shadow answered, giving Chris a confused look. "Kieran! Tell your uncle about how you're doing on the football team. I'll be right back."

"Fine..." Kieran set his game down and grudgingly walked over to the table while Adeline took Shadow to their room and sat down on the large bed. "Okay, tell me what this is about," Shadow said.

"It's just..." The young woman tugged at her messy auburn bun. "I don't know. I've felt... off... ever since I came back."

"How so?" Shadow sat down at the foot of the bed so he wasn't awkwardly standing over his wife.

"It's mostly you," Adeline replied. "I don't know, you seem so distant all the time... you barely seem like you care about anything, like everything is just such a bother all the time. I mean - it's not your fault or anything, I'm just worried for you."

Shadow looked down at the floor, unable to meet Adeline's ever-narrowing gaze. "I-"

"You hardly ever talk to the kids because you're so busy with your work and your brooding," Adeline folded her arms.

"I don't brood." Shadow scoffed.

"Did you even _want_ children?"

"... You wanted children," he replied. "I accepted your request to make you happy."

"You didn't answer my damn question." Adeline stared at him, her face reddening.

"I wanted them because you wanted them," Shadow answered simply. "Being an Enderman, I am incapable of wanting things or feeling emotion."

"That means you don't love me."

"Christ, Adeline, you're making me sound so horrible," The black-haired man ran his hand through his hair. "I am unable to feel love, I suppose, but I do care about you. I want you to be happy and safe. I could sense you wanted to get married, and I sensed you wanted children, so I did what you wanted so you could be happy. That is my duty, and even though I no longer live in Minecraftia, I am still bound to what I was commanded all those years ago."

Adeline sniffed. "Please get out."

"Honey-"

"Please."

Shadow scrambled out of the room and back into the kitchen, leaving Adeline alone on the bed. She wrapped her hands around her legs and sobbed into her knees. Why couldn't Claire just be here? The real Claire?

"Mommy?" A stream of black hair peeked out from around the door. "Don't you want to talk to Uncle Chris?"

"Not right now..." Adeline sniffed, wiping her nose so her daughter wouldn't see her crying. "I just needed a bit of me-time for a few minutes."

Willow wobbled into her parents' bedroom, which she had never been allowed in up until this moment. Why was everything so white? Were all adults this plain? "You look sad, Mommy. Why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad."

Willow clambered onto the bed and pouted. "You told me lying is bad. Why can't I lie but you can? That's not fair!"

Adeline sighed again. "I just had a little argument with Daddy, that's all. It's nothing."

The little black-haired girl rolled off the bed and landed on the floor with a small thud. "I don't like it when you and Daddy fight," Willow stated, tottering over to her mother's dresser and looking at her round face in the large vanity mirror. "Ooh, pretty!" She grabbed a framed picture that was sitting next to a rusty gold bracelet and examined it. "This is you!"

"Yup," Adeline replied. "Be careful with that, I don't want you to break it."

"I'm not going to break it..." Willow scoffed as if that were the silliest thing thing she had ever heard. "But who's the other girl? Is that your friend?" She turned the photo around and pointed at the pale girl with multicolored streaks in her black hair.

Adeline said nothing for a second as her face fell. "...Oh," she cleared her throat. "That's your Aunt Claire when she was younger."

"Who's she?"

"She's... dead... now," The auburn-haired woman muttered. "You would have liked her."

"Really?" Willow said, turning the picture upside-down like she would discover something new from a different angle. "Why? Did she save the world?"

Adeline swallowed, her throat tightening. "...Sort of."

"I like it in your room. It's all white and cold. Let's stay up here and talk about Aunt Claire, pleeease?"

"Okay, fine," Adeline sighed. "Well... She was my best friend..." She began. As the hero of Minecraftia talked about past memories to her daughter, a small black spider watched the two from the corner of the wall, his blue and green eyes sparkling.

~(|)~ The **END **~(|)~

*exhales*

Almost a year and a half later, this story comes to an end. Thank you all for being patient and supportive. ^_^ Now, for the survey. If you answered it when I TOLD YOU NOT TO (*glares*), then answer this one still, because it's a little different. This survey will help when I rewrite this story, so I know what to improve and what to keep. Thank you! :) (You don't have to answer all of them, if you really don't want to)

**1:** Who are your favorite and least favorite characters, and why?

**2: **What is your favorite scene and why?

**3: **Whose death affected you the most, and whose affected you the least? (Don't count Flippers, please.)

**4:** What is your favorite quote from the story? It can be funny, or emotional, or romantic, or inspirational, etc.

**5:** What plot twist surprised you the hardest? Did you expect something to happen but it never did?

**6: **What is your least favorite part of the story, as in what do you think could I change to make it better? (PLEASE don't say song lyrics. I already hate the singing parts a lot and mentioning them will make me bash my head against the wall)

**7 (And finally):** If you could give this story a rating from one to a hundred, what would you give it?

Thank you SO much, everybody! ^_^ If you want to stay in contact with me and keep up on what I'm doing now that this story is over, watch my DeviantART account: TheMinersDestiny to read about the latest updates, look at art of the characters, and other stuff. If you don't want to make a dA, at least bookmark the page. :D

FMF, out! *flies away*


	23. Acknowledgements

Back in 2011, a twelve year old girl was at her friend's house and they were discussing various things during one of those classic four AM conversations that aren't usually remembered the next morning. They came to the topic of fanfiction, and the girl's friend suggested that she write a story about a girl that falls in love with an Enderman. A great idea, but because that girl was lazy and doesn't like to do things that other people suggest, it was not given much of a second thought.

Months later, that girl's little cousin was visiting her for the day, and they played Minecraft together. Little Adeline was terrified of the tall black creatures with purple eyes that would chase her around. But when offered to turn the monsters off, she politely declined, saying she was brave enough to face them herself. Touched and inspired by Adeline's courage, that girl started writing a story about a blonde-haired heroine that opened up Minecraft one day only to have Herobrine suck her into her computer.

Of course, that was only the first draft of The Miner's Destiny, and didn't really go anywhere farther than a page and a half. Eventually the heroine's hair turned brown, then red, then auburn, and on December of that same year, Chapter One of The Miner's Destiny was hesitantly posted on Fanfiction, not expected to get more than ten reviews.

This was back when the highest number of reviews in the Minecraft archive was seventy-two, and the fanbase has grown considerably since then. That girl, now fourteen, never even dreamed of having seven hundred plus reviews!

What I mean is... I could never have even completed this story if you guys didn't help. :) Every review meant so much to me and helped me improve my writing, gain more confidence in it, and keep me motivated enough to continue writing! So to try and pay back a little bit, I've written an acknowledgements page. Of course... it might not be much to a majority of you, since I can't write something for every single person that has ever reviewed, but I hope it's good enough. :)

I have to thank** jetray790** first, of course. Jetray/Lance, you were my first reviewer and my first fan. :D I didn't think my story would get ANY reviews until a few chapters in, but you told me that my story was awesome and I needed to continue it! Thank you! :)

Next, I'd like to thank **Have A Little Feith **for being one of the only users to give me criticism that I still follow today. :3 You are one of the reasons that my goal for every chapter is eight thousand words!

Next up is **SpartaMan222.** You gave me the idea to create an OC contest, and that created so many new characters that I could never have come up with myself! Thank you! :3

Gah. I'm looking through all of my amazing reviews and don't really have much to say to everybody. DX After SpartaMan is **StarsOfMagic** for giving me long reviews that made me smile like an idiot, and also providing criticism that I used and will be using when I rewrite this story. c:

Assuming all of the reviews by 7 are the same person, I'd like to thank **7/Wierdko** for keeping tabs on my laziness through the whole story. Although when you told me to get back on schedule and that you expected to see the last chapters in a month it ticked me off a bit, but at the same time reminded me to stop being lazy. :3 So thank you for that.

Next is **Curtisimo!** How could I forget? Thank you so much for making such a lovable character! Will is almost everybody's favorite and although I brought him to life, you created his foundations. :) I could never have created Will myself had you not sent me his entry. Thanks for being an amazing writer and a kind person! c:

**Mellifluousness**, where do I start...? Even though I had to make you a couple of times, you always provided a long review that always made me smile because it was full of nice things! :) I never thought you would introduce me to the Skype group and end up being one of my closest friends! You know some things even my outernet friends don't know! XD Thank you for being you!

Next up is **exb756,** of course. Like Flu, you always wrote nice reviews and always tried to be the hundredth reviewer, even though you failed twice. XD I always look forward to going on Skype every night and talking to you and Flu. Thanks for being an awesome author and an awesome friend!

**MechanixAngel**, I haven't heard from you in a long time. You were probably one of the first friends I made on FanFiction, and you still are, assuming you aren't dead. Thank you for making an awesome character, being an awesome writer and being a great - although maybe not as close now - friend. :)

Up next is** SeaOfFire**. Even though your reviews didn't really say anything sometimes, I still looked forward to them. ^_^ Thanks for making a character that will be made a lot more relevant in the rewrite and being a great server friend! Even though I don't go on A'Therys anymore. :)

I almost forgot about **HarryPotterEncyclopedia24**! How could I? I loved your reviews full of capital letters and shrieking, even though sometimes I was a little freaked out by how much you could fangirl. XD You are an amazing artist and a great author. Thanks for being a good friend too. c:

Next is **xoxLEXIxox**. Lexi, you were one of my first fans, and even though I don't hear that much from you anymore, I always loved your long reviews! I hope you don't sail that one ship anymore, because it is sunk, but other than that you're a great friend and an awesome writer! :)

Even though **katnissbraid** and **bowtiesarecool99**'s reviews didn't make much sense, you guys helped me keep writing in real life with your constant harassment at school. ^_^ No, bowties, I'm not bringing Will back to life, no matter how much you demand it. Thanks for your, er, "support".

And now, a humongous thank you to **every single other other person** who ever reviewed, sent me a PM, or both, that I have not mentioned. :) I don't think I could come up with anything other than a "thank you" to all of the short reviews, but that doesn't mean I don't care! Every one of you motivated me to finish this story and I can't say thank you enough because it will never be enough to cover the massive amount of support all of you save me. :DDD

Thank you all SO SO SO much! Now that TMD is over I'll be writing stuff again shortly. ^_^ Please follow my DeviantART page if you want to know my plans and/or talk to me, and I hope to post things on here again soon!

FullMoonFlygon :3


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